BIG WORDS
Kyle Tucker addresses contract possibilities after trade from Astros
Dec 18, 2024, 11:50 am
Kyle Tucker is open to signing with the Cubs long-term. Composite Getty Image.
Kyle Tucker played his first major league games at Wrigley Field when the Houston Astros visited the Chicago Cubs in April. It was cold, he said, and a lot of fun.
“Those fans love their Cubs," Tucker said. "That’s kind of how it felt from, you know, the visiting side."
Now he will get to check it out from the home side.
The Cubs acquired Tucker in a trade last week, inserting the well-rounded star into a lineup in need of another dangerous bat. The right fielder was limited to 78 games this year because of a broken shin, but he still hit 23 homers and drove in 49 runs.
The price was considerable — third baseman Isaac Paredes, right-hander Hayden Wesneski and highly regarded prospect Cam Smith were shipped off to Houston — but Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer felt it was worth it. Even for a player who is eligible for free agency after the 2025 season.
“We have a lot of really good players on the team. We’re very balanced,” Hoyer said Tuesday in his first public comments since the trade. “But it did feel like we lacked, that kind of, consolidation of (wins above replacement), I would say, on our roster in one player. And obviously Tucker is just one of the best players in baseball, period.”
The trade for the three-time All-Star is Hoyer's boldest move — so far — since the Cubs went 83-79 this season and missed out on the playoffs for the fourth straight year. Matthew Boyd was added to the rotation when he finalized a $29 million, two-year contract on Dec. 7, and catcher Carson Kelly agreed to an $11.5 million, two-year deal last week.
Chicago had a surplus of outfielders after acquiring Tucker, so it traded Cody Bellinger to the New York Yankees on Tuesday. The Cubs also agreed to send the Yankees $5 million as part of the deal for right-hander Cody Poteet.
The move creates more financial flexibility for Chicago that it could use to shore up its bullpen, or possibly for a veteran infielder in case top prospect Matt Shaw isn't ready to fill its opening at third base just yet.
“It’s still early in the offseason,” Hoyer said before the Bellinger trade was announced. “And certainly there’s a lot of players out there, and our team’s not complete. ... We're not done.”
The catching situation appears set, with Kelly joining Miguel Amaya behind the plate. Matt Thaiss was traded to the White Sox on Tuesday for cash. The 29-year-old Thaiss had been obtained from the Los Angeles Angels on Nov. 20, also for cash.
Kelly played for Detroit and Texas this year, batting .238 with nine homers and 37 RBIs in 91 games. The 30-year-old Chicago native grew up rooting for the Cubs.
“It’s pretty special. I mean, my family grew up there,” Kelly said. “We moved when I was really young. But my dad grew up there. My mom grew up there. My uncle still lives there.”
The active offseason for Chicago comes with Hoyer going into the final year of his deal with the Cubs. But he dismissed the idea of that being a factor in his decision-making. He also declined to discuss the possibility of an extension for him with the team.
“My own situation like that, that’s not a concern. ... My job always is to be the best steward of the organization,” Hoyer said.
From Hoyer's perspective, that means making deals like the one for Tucker, one of baseball's best hitters since 2021. He batted .284 with 29 homers, an AL-best 112 RBIs and 30 steals in 2023.
Tucker, who turns 28 on Jan. 17, was at Houston teammate Myles Straw's wedding in Florida while the trade was coming together.
“Trying to deal with doing all the groomsmen stuff and getting prepared for their wedding while also trying to field some calls and whatnot on that day,” he said. “Kind of funny how that was all working out.”
Tucker had been with Houston since he was selected by the team with the No. 5 pick in the 2015 amateur draft. He played in three World Series with the Astros, winning it all in 2022.
On the brink of free agency, Tucker said he is open to talks with Chicago on a long-term deal. Hoyer also indicated the team was interested while promising to keep those conversations between Tucker's camp and the organization.
“Definitely Chicago’s, you know, great city to play in. Great city just in general," Tucker said. "So I’m open for anything.”
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Astros lose tight one despite brilliant outing from Hunter Brown
May 15, 2025, 10:29 pm
It’s a fun series between the Astros and Rangers through the weekend in Arlington, but by no means is it a critical series. It would be nice for the Astros to not lose three out of the four games (or obviously all four) to their upstate rivals. The Astros have lost their last five road series, dropping two out of three games in each of them. As with the Astros, pitching has been the strength of the team for the Rangers thus far. After the humdinger Hunter Brown-Jacob deGrom mound matchup Thursday night, the Rangers give the ball Friday to Nathan Eovaldi with his earned run average at 1.78, then Saturday it’s Tyler Mahle with his even more sparkling 1.47 ERA. Heading into Thursday play, the Mariners having lost five of their last six games meant just a game and a half separate first from fourth place in the American League West. The Astros, Rangers, and Athletics are all right there. Only the Angels are inconsequential.
Star power!
There is an asterisk to attach but Jeremy Pena is making a real charge at becoming a first-time All-Star game selection. Among American League shortstops, the Royals’ Bobby Witt Jr. is clearly the best. The clear number two in the pecking order coming into this season was the Orioles’ Gunnar Henderson, who is on fire after a slow start that began with him missing seven games on the injured list. Athletics’ rookie Jacob Wilson goes into the weekend batting .350 and amazingly has struck out just nine times in 164 at bats. Rangers’ stud Corey Seager being on the injured list with a balky hamstring for the second time this season helps the Astros this weekend and likely frees up an All-Star spot.
Now to that aforementioned asterisk. Pena has been sensational so far, indisputably the Astros’ best everyday player. We just need to see more staying power of performance before fully slotting Pena in the top tier of shortstops. Pena’s four-hit game Wednesday night hiked his batting average to .315, his OPS to .840. Well, last year Pena put head to pillow the night of May 15 with his batting average at .333, his OPS at .830. The rest of the season Pena hit .240 with a meager .653 OPS. That Pena drew a paltry 18 walks over his last 114 games. 2025 Pena has showed markedly better plate discipline. He’ll never be a high walks-drawn guy but incremental improvement matters, and can bear fruit in other ways.
Fruitless continues to describe an awfully high percentage of Christian Walker’s plate appearances. 2023 Jose Abreu was better (2024 Abreu was not). Plenty of season still remains for a turnaround, but more than a quarter of the season is gone and it’s not as if Walker is trending in the right direction. In three games against the Royals he went zero for 12 with seven strikeouts. With his final whiff, Walker reached the 50 strikeout “milestone” for the season in his 154th at bat. Feeble and lousy are fair characterizations of a .208 batting average and .625 OPS, magnified for someone batting clean-up most nights. Starting play Thursday 13 big leaguers actually had struck out more than Walker so far this season, among them only the Pirates’ Bryan Reynolds carries a lower OPS. Walker has been even worse with runners in scoring position, batting just .171, with a sub-abysmal 20 strikeouts in 41 at bats.
Using Baseball-Reference's Wins Above Replacement statistic, the Astros’ three worst non-pitchers this season are Walker, Yordan Alvarez, and Jose Altuve. Those are the three highest paid players on the team. Altuve’s extended funk has him hitting .202 over his last 27 games with a .538 OPS. Altuve was dropped to second in the batting order basically at his request. It has not sparked him. If Altuve doesn’t pick it up, manager Joe Espada will have to consider dropping Altuve several more spots down the lineup. Alvarez is at 11 games and counting missed with a muscle strain in his right hand. He will not be approaching the career-high 147 games played last season.
Relief pitcher Tayler Scott was a revelation last season. Before joining the Astros at age 31 Scott had a big-league ERA of 9.00 in 46 innings scattered over three seasons. So it was pretty much out of nowhere that the only South African pitcher in MLB history posted a scintillating 1.36 ERA into early August before fading and winding up with a still stellar 2.23 mark. The clock struck midnight on his Cinderella story this year though, and with the Astros needing to open a roster spot this week, Scott was designated for assignment.
Book it!
Longtime Astros’ broadcasting stalwart Bill Brown has authored several books. His latest is Wartime Athletes, which tells the stories of athletes across a number of sports who served in the U.S. military during various wars. If you know anything about Bill Brown, you know each story was meticulously researched and makes for an interesting read. I’m no Oprah when it comes to the power of suggestion for reading material, but Wartime Athletes is worth your time and/or is a worthy gift for someone else.
For Astro-centric conversation, join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and me for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday. Click here to catch!
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