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Mets offer Kyle Tucker $50 million per year in chase for top MLB free agent
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- Mets offer Kyle Tucker $50 million per year in chase for top MLB free agent
The Mets are going hard after Kyle Tucker
An offseason that to this moment has been known for change instead could be remembered for dollars — a lot of them.
The Mets have offered Kyle Tucker a short-term contract that is worth $50 million per season, a source confirmed Tuesday. FanSided first reported the eye-opening average annual value proposal, which would place Tucker behind only Shohei Ohtani and Juan Soto for the best-paid player per season in the sport.
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The specifics of the pact are not clear, but it would be a shorter deal that would see Steve Cohen pay $101 million per year to a pair of starting corner outfielders, pairing Tucker with Soto ($51 million per).
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Also unclear are the offers from Mets competitors. The teams most often linked with Tucker have been the Blue Jays, who hosted him at their facility in Dunedin, Fla., in December, and the Dodgers , who seem to lurk around every superstar sweepstakes.
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The Blue Jays are more likely to offer the kind of traditional, long-term pact that stars typically sign, while the Dodgers are more likely to propose a deal similar to the Mets offer. The Blue Jays probably can offer more stability and the Dodgers a greater chance at winning, but the Mets have Cohen's wallet and a mouth-watering possible top of the lineup, Tucker figuring to see plenty of good pitches behind Francisco Lindor and Soto.
Several from the Mets brain trust recently met with Tucker over Zoom to pitch a player who might not be a perfect fit but whose bat is imposing enough to shoehorn him into the lineup.
Kyle Tucker Getty Images
The Mets have undergone a facelift this season (gone are Pete Alonso , Edwin Díaz , Brandon Nimmo and Jeff McNeil ) in large part as a stated effort to improve defensively. Tucker won a Gold Glove in 2022 but appeared to take a step back, according to most metrics, in right field with the Cubs last season. Plus, the Mets already have a right fielder in Soto, so Tucker likely would have to move to left, where the Mets already moved on from Nimmo and his aging legs.
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But perhaps the Mets could prevent runs elsewhere while creating runs with their corner outfielders. Tucker is the best bat available and among the best in the game, the 10th-most valuable hitter since 2021, according to FanGraphs. The lefty swinger has been an All-Star in each of the past four seasons and finished as high as fifth in MVP voting in 2023 — and would have finished higher in other seasons if not for injuries.
The main drawback concerning Tucker is those injuries, shin, hand and calf issues limiting him to 214 of a possible 324 games the past two seasons (plus the hairline fracture in his right hand last season costing Tucker more effectiveness than games missed).
President of baseball operations David Stearns knows Tucker, who was drafted by the Astros in the first round when Stearns was Houston 's assistant general manager in 2015.
The Mets need an outfielder — at least one and maybe two — as their center fielder today probably would be light-hitting Tyrone Taylor and left fielder might be 2024 first-round pick Carson Benge, who shot through the system last year. The presence of Tucker might block Benge, but Stearns said Tuesday he believes Benge can play a major league center field (although an all-lefty outfield seems unlikely).
Beyond the enormous amount of money, signing Tucker would cost the Mets their second- and fifth-highest selections in the draft plus $1 million in international bonus pool money because Tucker declined the qualifying offer.
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Adding Tucker, who is turning 29 this weekend, would certainly change the narrative around a team that has blown up its core this winter.
Asked earlier in the day if the heavy lifting for the offseason is done and the bulk of the moves to come would be peripheral, Stearns said: "I wouldn't take anything off the table. I think we are and will continue to be involved in talks at all ranges of free agency and the trade market."
