This week's mailbag looks at potential Kyle Tucker suitors, the chances of the Yankees retaining Cody Bellinger and Trent Grisham, the Angels' history in free agency, extension ideas for the Royals and Cardinals, and what the future holds for the Twins.
Colin asks:
Where are some realistic landing spots for Kyle Tucker this offseason?
Why not just assess the viability of Tucker for all 30 teams? I'm sure Tucker's agents at Excel Sports Management already have.
- White Sox: In their June statement, the team said that Justin Ishbia "will make capital infusions into the White Sox as a limited partner in 2025 and 2026 that will be used to pay down existing debt and support ongoing team operations." The team's long-term books are already clean. Could Ishbia announce his presence by signing Tucker to a contract worth perhaps more than six times the team's current record deal of $75MM? Chalk it up as highly unlikely, yet still more likely than it's been in a long time.
- Guardians: No chance.
- Tigers: The club's dalliance with Alex Bregman last winter was notable, but that still wouldn't have been a top-three free agent deal. Tucker is highly unlikely here based on how the Tigers have operated since Mike Ilitch passed away in 2017.
- Royals: No chance.
- Twins: No chance.
- Orioles: Payroll-wise, the Orioles could manage this, but we've been saying that sort of thing for a while now. We've only seen one offseason under David Rubenstein, and it topped out with Tyler O'Neill's $49.5MM deal, but he could theoretically surprise us.
- Red Sox: On a team with Jarren Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela, Roman Anthony, and Wilyer Abreu, signing Tucker doesn't seem to make sense. The Red Sox were in on Juan Soto last winter, and Duran or Abreu could be traded, so we won't rule it out quite yet.
- Yankees: With Trent Grisham and Cody Bellinger up for free agency and Jasson Dominguez failing to assert himself, there is a reasonable case to be made here for Tucker. There's enough payroll space to make it work as well.
- Rays: I was going to write "no chance" and move on, but Tucker is from Tampa and Patrick Zalupski should assume ownership of the Rays before the outfielder signs. Given that Zalupski can't magically change the Rays' market size, he doesn't have a plan for a new stadium in place, and he doesn't have Steve Cohen type net worth, this is still pretty close to "no chance."
- Blue Jays: Nathan Lukes, Daulton Varsho, and Addison Barger make up a typical Jays outfield right now, with George Springer, Myles Straw, and Davis Schneider also drawing some starts and Anthony Santander on the IL. Re-signing Bo Bichette or adding starting pitching would seem more urgent, but there's no particular impediment to the Blue Jays pursuing Tucker. Plus, Excel did the Springer deal with the Blue Jays.
- Athletics: The A's made their statement last winter with a trio of $60-something million contracts (Luis Severino, Lawrence Butler, and Brent Rooker). That's still a very far cry from Tucker's stratosphere, and he's not going to elect to make Sutter Health Park his new home for the next few years.
- Astros: There's no evidence the Astros got anywhere with extension talks when they had Tucker, and no reason to think Jim Crane will break precedent and give him a huge contract on the open market.
- Angels: With Anthony Rendon's contract almost off the books, could the Angels try for a major free agent once again? There's no compelling reason to think so, but Arte Moreno is at least capable of swimming in these waters.
- Mariners: The Robinson Cano deal happened nearly 12 years ago; the Mariners would likely have to similarly bowl over the competition to convince Tucker to come there. Consider it unlikely, but not absurd.
- Rangers: The Rangers are on track to stay under the CBT and thus reset their payor status. Adding a fourth huge contract running into a player's late 30s might not be the best long-term move, and starting pitching seems more urgent, but a pursuit of Tucker can't be ruled out.
Moving on to the National League:
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While the Pohlads didn’t sell the team, they got a financial injection selling minority interests and more financial flexibility jettisoning Correa’s contract. Only Buxton and Pable Lopez are on the books for more than $5 million next season (although Ryan and Ober could get arbitration raises to that level). They have a decent core and some exciting outfield prospects. And they play in a division in which no one else spends a lot of money. But for the fact that a possible 2027 work stoppage could impact the market, I see the Twins with an opportunity to make aa decent, if not big, splash in the free agent market this offseason.
He definitely won’t be in Chicago, oh the Cubs will say they tried but reality is after the Heyward disaster long term deals for upper 20s players isn’t happening
Putting NL fans on the other side of the paywall from AL fans doesn’t quite seem fair. . .
DeepFriar: What does that even mean, and how does the system know who is an AL fan and who is a NL fan?
The article cuts off part way for non-members.
All the teams on the part of the list that are visible to non-members are AL teams. None of the NL teams on the list are visible. The list cuts off right where it’s about to talk about the NL teams.
Copy the link and paste it into archive.is.
It’s like $3 per month.
Kyle Tucker to the Rockies is a clear “no chance” given the team’s great distance from contention and declining revenue from television.
I usually agree with Tim on most things, but Tucker to the Giants makes no sense. They already have LH power in Devers and soon Eldridge, and the Giants have 5 long-term contracts on the books and need to sign a #2-3 rotation arm this off season..
What’s more, their outfield looks pretty good AND overcrowded going into 2026 (Ramos, Lee, Matos & Gilbert). Depending how Casey Schmitt finishes off the season, they may be set there too.
At catcher they need someone to share time with Patrick Bailey and, of course, will need to rebuild the bullpen now that Randy Rodriguez will be out till 2027.
Spending big on Tucker just doesn’t seem viable.
With Volpe and Dominguez appearing to be over hyped combined with losing out on the Soto sweepstakes, I see the Yankees going all in on Tucker.. 11years / $460M
Astros – No thanks, we want players who perform in the post season.
@Astros-fan: And he really hasn’t performed all that well in the regular season for the Cubs; he has not been the difference-maker we were led to expect. Has he always had that flat-footed, lunging kind of swing?
Angels will NOT be in on this. 100% sure.
I’ll ride with Taylor Ward over a Tucker anytime.
Not Nats. All they ever what in FA market is buy low players with hope of trading at deadline for a prospect if they turn things around.
With a lockout likely, there will be few suitors.
Falvey gets an A+ in GM Speak.
Stereotypical Mets fan question: Assuming my guy goes 9-0……LOL
that’s a lot to unpack. I think some of these teams the contenders, at least in the American league should be focused on relief pictures,because what I saw around the league last night was comically disastrous. Toronto WON ‘I think 12 to 9’and if you’re celebrating that, I’d be more concerned about those nine runs that they scored on their starting pitcher and bullpen. Yankees Astros game,don’t even know where to begin on that one. Anthony Volpe looks more like Eduardo Nunez these days. Bullpen can’t be trusted. Best game yesterday that I got to watch was the Pittsburgh Dodgers. game. Tight!
Rangers a definite no! Its owner is obsessed with staying under the CBT. I haven’t been impressed with these long term contracts to players who barely put out 50% effort for the money. Age and injuries seem to be the case at the end of those monstrous contracts. A solid no here for the Rangers, bring up the farm instead sprinkled with a few low risk veterans.
The Yankees are probably more in on Bellinger and Grisham than any other team. Who else really would be bidding on them. My guess is the Yankees re-up with Bellinger 5 year 130.
What are people’s thoughts on “The Martian” at this point? He’s not terrible, but he’s obviously not a cornerstone /franchise level player, either…. I haven’t watched much of the Yankees this season because it’s been so frustrating… have they been playing him much lately? Is he back down in the minors or injured?
I just looked at his stat lines and it looks like he’s been reduced to a spot starter/late innings replacement and he’s simply not producing and when you look at his last 5 games/last 15 games/last 30 games, the pace is consistent-
He’s a 10-12 HR 50-60 RBI .250-.260-ish hitter.
That is what he is.
He is barely replacement level, he’s an okay bench piece/platoon player and apparently his defense is still pretty bad- which is likely why they aren’t using him like they were earlier in the season.