The free agent market heading into spring training remains deep with talent. Players like Cody Bellinger, Bo Bichette, Kyle Tucker, and of course, Alex Bregman remain unsigned, waiting patiently for the big payday they’re seeking.
Both Kyle Tucker and Bregman played last season on short term deals. Bregman signed a opt out-laden compact with Boston and Tucker was traded to Chicago in his final year of team control.
While Boston fans will be gritting their teeth in the hopes of a reunion with Bregman, Tucker has subtly emerged as a dark horse option to fill the void currently dominating conversations surrounding the Sox’s batting order. Tucker has not been ‘linked’ to Boston this offseason, as many, many other free agents have.
Yet, MLB insider Bob Nightengale reported in USA Today that the free agent market may be experiencing a permanent shift when it comes to big name offensive players. Instead of signing the huge talent shortly after the conclusion of the previous season, we may all be watching offseason signings unfold with high profile players expecting to wait until after the new year heading into the future.
This creates some sticking points. First off, fans will surely grow tired of hearing all through the holiday season to end the year that their team is pursuing big upgrades only to push them off for a month or more. Lots of ‘big swing’ moves have been rumored this offseason for the Red Sox, after all.
It also creates a slow roll for players and teams. With the big pieces still on the board, it can be difficult to commit to other elements of a team’s buildup. For players like Tucker, it also means that there may be a fallback contract option in the works rather than the $400 million payday he was projected to receive. This could work out swimmingly for the Red Sox who are still searching for answers in the lineup, but chasing him would necessitate at least one trade.
The Red Sox could move on from one or more outfielders to pursue Kyle Tucker
Instead or in addition to resigning Bregman, Boston's brass could alter course and pursue the sterling outfielder who has yet to find a landing spot after his year with the Cubs. Tucker is an 83rd percentile arm value player with a 96th percentile walk rate and 85th K rate according to Baseball Savant. He doesn’t chase pitches and features huge expected values in batting average, wOBA, and slugging. He’s a gigantic threat at the plate with consistent 20-plus home run power. Tucker is a four-time All Star with two Silver Slugger awards and a Gold Glove to his name. Baseball Reference projects 23 home runs from him next season with 19 swiped bags, too.
If Tucker is destined to settle for a single season to prove himself again and generate a new walk year opportunity, Boston could be a landing spot that’s firmly in play. The Sox brought in his recent teammate on the same basic terms last season, and could do it again.
However, yet another outfielder thrown into play would necessitate moving on from Jarren Duran or Kristian Campbell. It might also require dropping Masataka Yoshida and eating the remainder of his contract to fully leverage the DH spot. Tucker’s arm is great, but his range is underdeveloped, so trading either of Boston’s top tier defenders wouldn’t yield the best possible outfield mix.
Trade rumors have followed Duran for the past two seasons, and signing Tucker might add a new dimension to the team’s makeup, but would surely signal a reality check for Craig Breslow that he needs to take offers for Duran or others seriously and capitalize his abundance of outfield talent in an exchange for new pitching or prospects to restock the farm.