By Chandler Rome, Ken Rosenthal, Sahadev Sharma and Patrick Mooney
DALLAS — The Houston Astros traded outfielder Kyle Tucker to the Chicago Cubs on Friday afternoon, finishing a frenzied 72 hours for 2 golf equipment confronting a crossroads.
The Astros will obtain a package deal that features infielder Isaac Paredes, right-hander Hayden Wesneski and infield prospect Cam Smith, league sources informed The Athletic.
For a Cubs group that was in determined want of a star, Tucker solutions one of many largest questions dealing with the group since buying and selling away the World Sequence core on the 2021 commerce deadline. Working inside possession’s parameters, Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer has hesitated to pay free-agent costs for the most important names in current offseasons, falling nicely brief when the Los Angeles Dodgers landed Shohei Ohtani final winter and never even getting into the Juan Soto bidding warfare gained by the New York Mets.
Tucker is projected to earn a $15.8 million wage this winter — his final as an arbitration-eligible participant. Tucker will flip 28 in January and, subsequent winter, ought to command an enormous payday within the wake of Soto’s $765 million contract with the Mets.
Amongst all major-league outfielders, solely Soto, Aaron Decide and Mookie Betts have amassed extra wins above alternative than Tucker since 2020. A fractured shin price Tucker 79 video games final season, however he nonetheless managed to provide 4.7 bWAR and a 181 OPS+ throughout 339 plate appearances.
Buying and selling Tucker is a departure from Houston’s commonplace working process throughout this decade of dominance, however payroll bloated by misallocated cash coupled with a fallow farm system all however pressured third-year common supervisor Dana Brown to make Tucker out there.
That Houston proprietor Jim Crane has by no means assured a participant greater than $151 million should’ve factored into the dialogue, too. Within the wake of Soto’s contract, Tucker may obtain a free-agent deal subsequent winter price no less than $400 million.
For the Cubs, that is the subsequent stage of a extra transactional, data-driven technique underneath Hoyer, who’s getting into the ultimate season of the five-year contract he signed when he changed Theo Epstein.
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Why Kyle Tucker matches what the Chicago Cubs are on the lookout for
The Cubs acquired Paredes lower than 5 months in the past from the Tampa Bay Rays, giving up Christopher Morel and two younger pitchers. The Astros had heavy curiosity in Paredes through the commerce deadline and, based on one major-league supply, “completed second” to the Cubs in bidding.
At that commerce deadline, the Cubs didn’t function as conventional consumers or sellers, taking a blended strategy to including and subtracting major-league expertise whereas attempting to construct for the longer term.
That evolving philosophy had led the Cubs to Wesneski, a pitcher focused on the 2022 commerce deadline for his potential upside as a starter. The Cubs swapped Scott Effross, a sidearm reliever underneath long-term management, for Wesneski, an upper-level prospect within the New York Yankees’ farm system.
Wesneski, who grew up within the Houston space, didn’t fairly put all of it collectively at Wrigley Area, however he has been an efficient major-league swingman and may benefit from a change of surroundings.
The Cubs chosen Smith out of Florida State within the first spherical of this yr’s draft, including him to their rising group of top-100 prospects. That gradual accumulation of younger expertise opened new potentialities and inspired a deliberate entrance workplace to make a blockbuster win-now commerce.
However regardless of paying a hefty worth, Hoyer now has an offensive centerpiece. It’s a gaggle with strong — however not spectacular — expertise. Surrounding Tucker with the likes of Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki — together with Nico Hoerner and Dansby Swanson — extends a lineup that lacked the kind of participant that opponents need to recreation plan round. Tucker’s presence will elevate the remainder of the group and assist convey some stability to a lineup that too typically went in deep funks.
The value to accumulate Tucker was hefty — particularly for a participant who’s just one season away from free company — however he modifies the dynamic of this Cubs offense. Since 2020, solely 9 gamers have topped Tucker’s 143 wRC+ throughout that span. Since 2010, solely Anthony Rizzo or Kris Bryant have put up a season of 140 wRC+ or higher in a Cubs uniform.
Tucker is also an all-around menace as a robust baserunner and a Gold Glove winner in proper discipline. He has intensive postseason expertise, having performed in 64 playoff video games and serving to the Astros win the 2022 World Sequence.
The Cubs count on Tucker to assist them get again to October baseball at Wrigley Area.
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(Photograph: Tim Warner / Getty Photos)
