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 bundle that features infielder Isaac Paredes, right-hander Hayden Wesneski and infield prospect Cam Smith, league sources instructed The Athletic. The deal is pending a medical evaluate.
For a Cubs workforce that was in determined want of a star, Tucker solutions one of many greatest questions dealing with the group since buying and selling away the World Series 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 largest names in latest offseasons, falling effectively quick on Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani final winter and never even coming into the race for New York Mets’ Juan Soto.
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 a large payday within the wake of Soto’s $765 million contract with the New York Mets.
Among all major-league outfielders, solely Soto, Aaron Judge and Mookie Betts have collected extra wins above alternative than Tucker since 2020. A fractured shin value Tucker 79 video games final season, however he nonetheless managed to supply 4.7 bWAR and a 181 OPS+ throughout 339 plate appearances.
Trading Tucker is a departure from Houston’s normal working process throughout this decade of dominance, however payroll bloated by misallocated cash coupled with a fallow farm system all however pressured third-year basic supervisor Dana Brown to make Tucker accessible.
That Houston proprietor Jim Crane has by no means assured a participant greater than $151 million should’ve factored into the dialogue, too. In the wake of Soto’s contract, Tucker may obtain a free-agent deal subsequent winter value no less than $400 million.
For the Cubs, that is the subsequent stage of a extra transactional, data-driven technique beneath Hoyer, who’s coming into the ultimate season of the five-year contract he signed when he changed Theo Epstein.
GO DEEPER
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, in accordance with 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 method to including and subtracting major-league expertise whereas making an attempt to construct for the long run.
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 beneath 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 Field, however he has been an efficient major-league swingman and may gain advantage from a change of surroundings.
The Cubs chosen Smith out of Florida State within the first spherical of this 12 months’s draft, including him to their rising group of top-100 prospects. That gradual accumulation of younger expertise opened new prospects and inspired a deliberate entrance workplace to make a blockbuster win-now commerce.
But regardless of paying a hefty value, Hoyer now has an offensive centerpiece. It’s a bunch with stable — 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 deliver some stability to a lineup that too usually 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 alters 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 better 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 Series.
The Cubs anticipate Tucker to assist them get again to October baseball at Wrigley Field.
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(Photo: Tim Warner / Getty Images)
