TUCKER’S TRIUMPHANT RETURN! Astros Eagerly Await Reunion with Star Outfielder Kyle Tucker
By most accounts, this offseason was a very tough one for the Houston Astros.
They entered it with several needs on their roster to address, with first base and the outfield looking like the most glaring ones. Some starting pitching help wouldn’t have hurt either so they wouldn’t have to rely on so many players returning from injury to fill prominent roles.
As things began to move along, even more needs began to arise.
The Astros ended up losing several key contributors from last year’s team in free agency. Starting pitchers Justin Verlander and Yusei Kikuchi both departed, agreeing to deals with the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Angels, respectively.
Star third baseman Alex Bregman became the latest homegrown star to leave on the open market, agreeing to a deal with the Boston Red Sox.
Another cornerstone, right fielder Kyle Tucker, was traded to the Chicago Cubs in one of the biggest moves of the winter. Entering his final year of team control, the team opted to trade him away instead of going through the same situation they did with Bregman, George Springer and Carlos Correa previously.
Veteran relief pitcher Ryan Pressly, the fourth member of their 2022 World Series-winning team to not return in 2025, was traded to the Cubs in a separate deal.
On top of all the areas the team knew they had to upgrade coming into the offseason, those departures and trades created even more holes.
Yet, despite that incredible loss of talent, one executive in baseball actually believes Houston was amongst the most improved teams in the league.
“I think they did well in the Tucker trade,” an AL executive said, via Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. “They gave up a great player, but just for one year; I think they could have some strong contributors from the haul.”
Originally, there were a lot of negative things said about the Tucker deal, and rightfully so.
Trading away a top 10 positional player is always going to make a team worse, but the return package is already paying dividends.
Isaac Paredes slid right into Bregman’s spot at the hot corner. After an incredible spring, Cam Smith made the Opening Day roster and is taking over right field from Tucker, learning the position on the fly since he is a natural third baseman.
In addition to the acquired players via the trade all immediately contributing at the Major League level, the team also signed veteran first baseman Christian Walker in free agency to fill the void at first base.
Some fans may be skeptical after the disaster that was Jose Abreu’s free-agent signing ahead of the 2023 campaign. Another mid-30s first baseman being signed to a three-year deal could bring up some deja vu, but Walker is a legitimate upgrade.
He has averaged 32 home runs over the last three years and won three straight National League Gold Glove Awards at first base before hitting free agency.
How this plays out in the long run will be seen.
But after Houston was ridiculed for shipping out Tucker, it seems like they could actually come away from that decision on the right side of things.
