MLB

Kyle Tucker signs with Dodgers for four years, $240 million: Contract details, fall of legend

ballervisions 2026年1月16日

A wave of shock reverberated through the baseball world late Thursday night when a starless agent Kyle Tucker signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers on an impressive four-year, $240 million contract.

The deal includes a $64 million signing bonus, opt-outs after both the second and third seasons and $30 million in deferred revenue.

Tucker now has the highest current-day average annual salary of any player in major league history at $57.1 million, surpassing This is Juan Soto’s place $51 million was set last season.

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Besides the Dodgers, the Mets and Blue Jays were both in high pursuit of Tucker.

The Mets offered the same massive four-year, $220 million deal with no deferred money and a $75 million signing bonus. That was a huge signing bonus and (obviously) a bit of a down payment compared to the Dodgers’ winning offer.

The exact terms of the Blue Jays’ final offer to Tucker are unknown, but reports suggest they were more focused on a long-term deal with less money per year. It’s clear that Tucker’s camp couldn’t turn down AAV’s record and the opportunity to re-evaluate the free agent market in two years.

Meanwhile, Tucker will join forces Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freemanagain Will Smith in what is the best program in baseball as the Dodgers chase their third World Series title.

What an embarrassment of riches. Tucker is now the eighth Dodger with at least $100 million in contracts. The Phillies, Padres, and Blue Jays are next with six and the Yankees and Giants have five each. Seven teams do not have a single active player over that threshold.

MLB: Toronto Blue Jays at Pittsburgh Pirates

MLB Free Agent Tracker 2025-26: Mets target Bo Bichette, Kyle Tucker set to join Dodgers in big deal

Stay up-to-date on the MLB free agent market this offseason, including player signings, contract details, and team balances as the 2025-26 Hot Stove heats up.

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As ridiculous as it may sound, Tucker will fill a huge hole in the Dodgers’ roster.

Although they scored the most runs per game in the National League last season, their outings were not productive at the plate. Cumulatively, they had a .240 batting average, .299 on-base percentage, and a .714 OPS. That was remarkably similar This is Lourdes Gurriel’s place slash line.

They suffered a lot during the playoffs, scoring just 4.2 runs per game and 3.7 in the World Series. Even the star-studded lineup is their defense, pitching, and bottom line Miguel Rojas he bailed them out.

This will be less of a problem after adding Tucker. His .895 OPS over the past two seasons is exactly the same as Vladimir Guerrero Jr and higher than that Photo by Kyle Schwarberwithout the same fanfare.

He has been one of the most productive players in the league since becoming a full-time player in 2021 with both a top 10 fWAR and top 10 wRC+ over the past five years.

Few players make good swing decisions like Tucker either. He’s rarely thrown pitches out of the zone, contributed decently to the zone, and walked more than he’s struck out over the past two years.

By all accounts, he is one of the few best hitters in the game.

However, the two serious injuries that caused the break — a bad shin ball in 2024 and spraining his right hand at second base last season — appeared to severely damage Tucker’s value on the open market and standing among certain fan groups.

Also, he never measured up to many of the important statistical measurements we look for when evaluating a star player.

Tucker has never surpassed 30 home runs, a .300 batting average, or five fWARs in a single season. On top of that, his strikeout velocity is average and his batted ball data is in line with the highest paid person in the sport this coming season.

Still, his production speaks for itself and those kinds of concerns carry far less weight when he signs a four-year deal compared to the 10 or 12 years many expected him to get when this season started.

Is this deal a bad value? Maybe a dollar per MPI. The Dodgers obviously don’t care though and Tucker is likely to be one of the most productive hitters in their All-Star-powered game. He also protects them from the aging Freeman and Betts becoming elite players for the next few seasons. The rich get really rich.

Ranger Suarez to the Red Sox

Now it’s a bit lost on the shova, starting pitcher Guard Suárez signed a five-year, $130 million contract with the Red Sox on Wednesday afternoon.

This agreement came as a surprise for several reasons.

First, the Red Sox weren’t linked to Suárez all season. Moreover, it was as if there were no other groups or. His market was largely unknown to the public until Boston came rushing in after a miss Alex Bregman on the weekend.

Next, the Red Sox weren’t starved for rotation help. They traded Sonny Gray at the beginning of this offseason to support Garrett Crochet up again Johan Oviedo over time to provide depth at the end.

They still have it Bryan Bello as a solid number-four type, veterans Patrick Sandoval again Cutter Crawford in preparation, and highly charged rookies Payton Tolle again Connelly Early struggling to find their gun. Also, the former high prospect Kyle Harrison ready in the wings. Also, starting pitching was more of a waste than a real need.

Finally, Suárez was a strange free agent to project. He has excelled throughout his career with a 2.91 overall ERA as a starter and is known as one of the best artisans in the game. He is considered a playoff riser as well with a 1.48 ERA in 42 2/3 postseason innings.

On the other hand, he doesn’t do many of the things that teams value most on the open market.

His 21.9% strikeout rate over his last four seasons as a starter is a hair below league average. Also, he never threw more than 160 innings in a regular season. More troubling, his average fastball velocity has dropped by more than two full miles per hour over the past two seasons. It went from over 93 mph to almost over 91 mph.

Granted, speed is less important to a pitcher like Suárez than others.

He has a deep five-pitch mix that forces hitters to make uncomfortable decisions as he works the edges with incredible consistency. Suárez also relies on the sinker more than the four-seam ball and the former doesn’t rely too much on speed to be effective.

However, he drifts dangerously where he can get into a lot of trouble when throwing those fastballs.

Suárez was one of 24 pitchers whose fastball velocity was at or below 92 mph last season. The list includes strong names like, Shota Imanaga again Jacob Lopezbut it was full of boys Jose Quintana, Photo by Clayton Kershaw a corpse, too Tyler Anderson.

Even getting one tick could do wonders for Suárez as he approaches the back end of this deal. Look for fastballs that are more effective (relatively) if the left-handed pitcher can stretch back over 92 mph.

This probably won’t affect Suárez too much in the near term when he will still be one of the top 40 strikers in the league. Some fear may be coming down the line though as that pace continues to fall on a deal that makes him the 12th most expensive player in the league on the year at this point.

▶ The Hottest Instant Stove Top

◆ Logic would tell us that the Blue Jays will return their attention Bo Bichette after losing Kyle Tucker. The Phillies appear to be winning that race even though Toronto is reportedly satisfied with its current crop of infielders.

◆ Besides that Juan Sotothe only outfielder on the Mets’ current 40-man roster Tyrone Taylor, Jared Youngagain Nick Morabito. Yes. In a perfect world, none of these three would be starting on opening day and the Mets probably wouldn’t want anyone other than Taylor to break camp with the club.

Cody Bellinger is on the market and facing a conflict with the Yankees who are crossing town. Will a bidding war begin? Or could the Mets turn their attention on the trade market to such a person Lars Nootbaar or Luis Robert who are they both related to?

◆ As little has been said about MLB’s relatively interesting transactions in a while, the The Angels, Rays, and Reds agreed to a three-team trade that sent Josh Lowe Angels too Gavin Lux to Tampa Bay.

The trade was announced literally two minutes after Tucker’s contract and was completely lost in the hoopla, but it’s an interesting big leaguer swap nonetheless.

Back in 2023, Lowe hit 20 homers, stole 35 bases and posted an .835 OPS across 135 games. Since then, he has played in 214 games over two seasons with just a .670 OPS over that span.

Frequent soft tissue injuries have slowed him down significantly and the Angels are betting that some luck of better health could unlock what was once a sky-high powerhouse. I would have felt a lot better about that accident if a team other than the Angels had handled it.

Lux has established himself as a completely unspectacular producer with a high on-base percentage (.339 over the past three seasons) but without the same game power (five home runs in 140 games last season). He may find his way to the top spot down in Tampa Bay though ahead of Junior Caminero, Jonathan Aranda, and Yandy Díaz.

◆ Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said that Matt Shaw he could get playing time in the outfield this season after the addition of Alex Bregman. That confirms the fact that Shaw will be seen as the most useful man in Chicago and it’s a little interesting that they will try to get him to bat at any cost.

⚾️ Coming soon: MLB returns to NBC and Peacock in 2026! In addition to being the exclusive home of Sunday Night Baseball, NBC Sports will broadcast the MLB Sunday Leadoff, “Opening Day” and the first Labor Day games, the first round of the MLB Draft, the entire postseason Wild Card round, and much more.