The Price of Stardom! Cubs New Superstar Next Contract Expected to Shatter Records
The Chicago Cubs pulled off one of the most shocking blockbusters of the offseason when they acquired right fielder Kyle Tucker from the Houston Astros.
It was not cheap, especially when considering this could be a one-year rental since the superstar outfielder is set to hit free agency after the season.
To land him, the Cubs traded third baseman Isaac Paredes, pitcher Hayden Wesneski and star prospect Cam Smith, a first-round pick in the 2024 MLB draft.
How that trade is viewed down the line will be impacted greatly by whether Chicago is able to retain Tucker long term or not.
If he plays only one season with the franchise and departs in free agency without bringing a World Series to town, it will be viewed by many as a failure.
As a Scott Boras client, it is hard to envision the Cubs will get an extension done before he becomes a free agent, since the superagent normally wants his players to hit the open market and scope out the biggest possible deal.
No matter what route Tucker and his representation decide to take, he is going to make a massive amount of money.
In the discussion as one of the top 10 positional players in the game, and having turned only 28 years old in January, a contract extension is going to include a chunk of his prime.
How much money could he be looking at?
As shared by Tim Britton of The Athletic (subscription required), Tucker’s best comparison is superstar outfielder Juan Soto, who just set the record for largest contract in sports history with the New York Mets this past winter by signing a gargantuan 15-year, $765 million deal.
“If Tucker had remained healthy last season and continued playing the way he did in the first half of the season, his best statistical comp would be … Soto. Because of his age, Tucker wouldn’t have been able to get as long a deal as Soto, but he would have been able to make a case for a similar average annual value,” Britton wrote.
His production last season with the Astros was through the roof, as he compiled a 4.7 WAR despite playing only 78 games with 339 plate appearances.
Tucker had a slash line of .289/.408/.585 with 23 home runs, 13 doubles, 11 stolen bases and 49 RBI. A fully healthy season with that rate of production would have had him right in the MVP race along with Soto.
An All-Star in three straight years, another feather in Tucker’s cap is that he is a stellar defender in right field. He has one Gold Glove Award on his resume and, by most metrics, is well above-average in the grass.
That makes him all the more valuable because he won’t be clogging up a designated hitter spot any time soon.
While Britton’s projection for Tucker falls short of what Soto received, he has still put himself in a position to land one of the biggest contracts in MLB history.
He believes the Chicago superstar could be in line for a 10-year, $349.5 million deal, which would be an AAV of $34.95 million.
Based on his track record and future projections, that is a fair deal.
The Cubs certainly hope things turn out differently for them than it did for the New York Yankees and Soto, who left after only one year with the franchise.
