The Los Angeles Dodgers made a big splash by signing Edwin Díaz at the Winter Meetings. Nearly a month later, the organization might land an even bigger name.
Nearly one month has passed since Major League Baseball’s Winter Meetings ushered in a flurry of free agent movement and trade activity. Yet, several marquee names are still without a team, one of which is Kyle Tucker.
It may come as a surprise that the 28-year-old four-time All-Star has not landed with a new club, leading Mark Feinsand of MLB.com to provide context around Tucker’s situation.
“Tucker, who turns 29 on Jan. 17, is believed to be seeking a long-term deal worth at least $300 million – possibly as much as $400 million – as he takes his first swing at free agency,” Feinsand wrote.
As Feinsand also notes, the contract that Tucker is seeking is something few teams are willing, and capable, of offering, and one of those teams is the Los Angeles Dodgers.
“That potential price tag has limited Tucker’s market to a finite number of teams, with the Yankees, Mets, Diamondbacks, Giants and Dodgers joining the Blue Jays as clubs that have been connected to him. Yet while we’ve heard of potential interest from those teams, there hasn’t been much substantial movement by any of them to actually get a deal done.”
According to Feinsand, two industry sources “still tabbed the Blue Jays as Tucker’s likely destination, even after Toronto signed infielder Kazuma Okamoto to a four-year, $60 million deal last week.” The addition of Tucker would certainly place considerable weight on Toronto’s payroll, but the Blue Jays benefit from the fact that over $70 million will come off their books when George Springer, Kevin Gausman, Shane Bieber and Daulton Varsho are slated to become free agents.
Meanwhile, the Dodgers’ extravagant payroll is not coming down any time soon, which means that the possibility of signing Tucker to round out an already star-studded roster may only come to fruition if the deal is short-term according to an American League executive that Feinsand quoted.
“I can’t see the Dodgers signing him to a long-term deal, but if he is open to something shorter, that’s the kind of deal [president of baseball operations] Andrew [Friedman] loves," the executive said. “It feels like they’re just waiting out the market, because as good as Tucker is, it’s not like they need him.”
Placing Tucker in a Dodgers uniform would certainly define a luxury acquisition for the organization. Los Angeles is not deficient when it comes to roster firepower, but Friedman and the front office are characterized by their desire to take big swings and subsequently execute them. Nothing is off the table for the back-to-back World Series champions.
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