The Los Angeles Dodgers made it clear early in the offseason they weren’t looking to sign Kyle Tucker to a long-term deal, and stuck to their guns during negotiations with the All-Star.
L.A. landed the slugger with a four-year, $240 million deal despite not having the largest sum of money on the table, speaking volumes about the winning culture the Dodgers have created over the past several years.
President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman chalked up the decision to stay with a short-term contract to making sure the team is as good in the future as they are now.
“In the short term, it’s easy to take the core talent we have in place, the nucleus that we have, and say, ‘Anything we can add to that.’ You don’t want to be flippant about what we have right now in this moment in time,” Friedman said to The Athletic. “That being said, we have to try to balance it with three, four, five years out. As the guys that are currently under contract get out … infusing young players over that time is going to be really important for us to be able to maintain.”
The short-term deal is a smart move from the Dodgers if they want to make additions from their farm system, as Tucker turned 29 earlier this month. L.A. has the oldest position player core in baseball, but can balance it out as some of their older players leave with the league’s best farm system.
What Does Kyle Tucker Bring to the Dodgers?
Tucker was easily the best bat available in free agency and will do wonders for the Dodgers’ offense in the coming season.
The four-time All-Star plugged the hole L.A. had in the outfield, and as one of the best players in the game, he will surely turn one of the Dodgers’ weaknesses last season into a strength.
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Tucker has hit 20 or more home runs in each of the last five seasons, also accruing more than 4.0 bWAR in all of them. His worst season of the bunch came in 2025 — he had 22 home runs and 73 RBIs through 136 games — but he still managed a .841 OPS and played through a hairline fracture in his hand for a couple of months.
With Tucker bolstering their star-studded lineup, the Dodgers will look to claim their third consecutive World Series title — becoming the third franchise to complete a three-peat.
2 Responses
Bravo! Something like, “We stand firm at paying above average talent $60M AAV. You can’t get one over on this organization.” I only hope they’re right that he deserves almost as much per year as Ohtani, that once in a generation player.
I assume you would have rather they paid the 400 million he wanted and be stuck with him for as long as that would run? They paid half that, deferred a good chunk of it and remain flexible in the future. In the meantime they get an above average outfielder who has won Gold Glove’s in the past and will out hit either Confort-0-fer and Teoscar who they retained anyway but minimized his defense by outting him back in left. And most importantly, we can make another run at the title with top pitching, hitting AND outfield Defense. That is the trifecta that wins champinships.