Four-time All-Star free agent outfielder Kyle Tucker has been repeatedly linked in various media reports to the Toronto Blue Jays. The connection is not a purely speculative one. On Dec. 3, the former Chicago Cubs and Houston Astros slugger, who has belted at least 22 home runs in each of the last five seasons, met in person with Blue Jays officials at the team’s spring training facility in Dunedin, Florida.
Tucker makes his offseason home in Tampa, his hometown, so the trip was not an inconvenient one for the eight-year veteran. But almost a full month has passed, and there has not been a report detailing Tucker receiving an offer from Toronto or anywhere else. Now, an ESPN baseball analyst has proposed a new contract structure for Tucker that could persuade the Blue Jays, or any other suitors, to reconsider how they plan to pursue the 29-year-old.
Contract predictions for Tucker have focused on long-term deals from anywhere between $350 million and $425 million. Teams may be seeing those as prohibitive commitments. But what if the Blue Jays offered Tucker a shorter-term deal, at a higher annual value?
That was the idea proposed by ESPN podcast host Paul “Hembo” Hembekides on Friday, in an interview with longtime ESPN MLB insider Buster Olney.
“I think there are two frameworks that some of these big-market teams should at least run by his camp to see if there’s any interest at all,” Hembekides told Olney. “A one-plus-one and a two-plus-two.”
The first proposal the podcaster detailed would offer Tucker a one-year contract at $52 million, plus a player option for a second year at the same amount, “making him the second-highest-paid player in baseball across those two years. And I’m going to give you a player option after the 2026 season. So if you decide you can do a whole lot better, from the perspective of a long-term contract after the CBA is inked, more power to you,” Hembekides said.
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The podcaster then proposed a second framework in which Tucker would be paid $43 million annually for two seasons, with a player option after the second year that would renew the contract for another two years at the same salary, “which might even be more palatable for the player,” he said.
Either way, Tucker would be in line to make over $100 million in a relatively short period of time, while the Blue Jays would not be stuck paying a potentially declining hitter into his mid-30s, and even late 30s.
“A one-plus-one or a two-plus-two for Kyle Tucker strikes me as an opportunity that could make sense for both parties,” Olney agreed. “My first question on that is: could an agent sell a player on that? Could his agent sell Kyle Tucker on that, after all the projections we’ve seen during the offseason?”
Tucker is represented by Excel Sports Management, the firm that also represents the Blue Jays’ George Springer. At age 36 next season, Springer will be playing the final season of a six-year, $150 million contract with Toronto.
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