The Chicago Cubs made a trade for Kyle Tucker this offseason. After a seven-year run with the Houston Astros, Tucker is headed to the National League in an offseason blockbuster. Even after a brutal first season on the bench, there is hope that Craig Counsell can get the Cubbies back to the playoffs. What can Cubs fans expect from Kyle Tucker this season?
There's an MLB record $311.305 million in luxury tax penalties this year, more than $100 million more than a year ago, by nine teams that eclipsed the luxury tax.
Dodgers: $103.016M
Mets: $97.116M
Yankees: $62.512M
Phillies: $14.351M
Atlanta: $14.026M
Rangers:$10.807M
Astros: $6.483M
Giants: $2.421M
Cubs: $570,309
The Rangers, Giants and Cubs were the only teams who didn't make the playoffs.
The Houston Astros have traded their best player, Kyle Tucker, and are letting go of Alex Bregman, who has the most WAR for them since his first full season in 2017. In the meantime, they will pay first basemen Christian Walker and José Abreu a combined $39.5 million in 2025.
The consequences of an unwillingness to go beyond six years on a contract reveal themselves in moments like this. Bregman and Tucker were drafted and developed by the Astros machine, which will struggle to retain its best talent as long as it places arbitrary restrictions on itself. This is an uncapped sport. The best players get more than six years in free agency.
The Astros remain formidable. A team with Walker, Yordan Álvarez, José Altuve, Yainer Díaz, Jeremy Peña, Framber Valdez, Hunter Brown, Josh Hader and more. They will be a contender and have the talent to win a World Series. But they are an objectively lesser team than last year, and that's no small thing in a close AL West.