Jed Hoyer nailed the Kyle Tucker trade |
The Cubs have acquired outfielder Kyle Tucker from the Houston Astros in exchange for third baseman Isaac Paredes, prospect Cam Smith, and right-handed pitcher Hayden Wesneski. In a vacuum, Jed Hoyer has answered the bell on the Cubs’ need for a star in their lineup, and Tucker immediately elevates the Cubs’ roster.
Tucker will be 28 this season and has put together an excellent career up to this point. The right fielder spent the first seven seasons of his career in Houston, where he was named to three All-Star teams, won a Gold Glove, and was a huge factor in the Astros’ 2022 World Series win. Since he became a full-time starter in 2021, Tucker has consistently been one of the league’s best players. It feels safe to say that Tucker is underrated in terms of the league’s best. Since 2021, Tucker has a better slugging percentage than Juan Soto, more home runs than Bryce Harper, more RBI than Mookie Betts, a better on-base percentage than Francisco Lindor, and a better WAR than Vlad Guerrero Jr. Safe to say, he’s been as good or better than some of MLB’s best. According to the OPS+ metric, Tucker has been a top-10 hitter in baseball since he became a full-time starter. For the Cubs, they got their star player. While the price tag was steep, it was a move that many around the industry — including the Chicago Cubs themselves — knew they needed to make. The one con of this contract is that Tucker only has one more season worth of control before he is set to be a free agent, so it will be up to the Cubs to sweep Tucker off his feet with an extension (that would likely track as the largest in Cubs’ history) or risk losing him in the offseason like the Yankees lost Juan Soto to the Mets. As for the package it cost to acquire Tucker, it feels like the Cubs made the right call. While it stings to give up a prospect like Cam Smith, he has only had 115 minor league at-bats, and it hurts much less to give him up than it would Matt Shaw, who is the Cub's No. 1 prospect and is knocking at the door to be in the big leagues. Isaac Paredes made a lot of sense to be included in the deal, as the Astros are bracing to lose Alex Bregman via free agency. Beyond that, Paredes’ pull-side tendencies make him a match for the Crawford Boxes in left field of Minute Maid Park. Parades was acquired from the Rays in the Christopher Morel trade back in July but never quite found his footing in Chicago so that this move could make some sense for him. The Astros were rumored to want a pitcher and settled on Hayden Wesneski. Among the rumored arms, losing Wesneski doesn’t sting as much as losing out on Jordan Wicks’ potential or Javier Assad’s reliability. Wesneski has bounced back and forth from the rotation to the bullpen, and while he does have good stuff, he has struggled to allow the home run ball. So, for the Cubs, they upgraded their lineup with a bonafide star — and did so without giving up Seiya Suzuki (whom the Astros wanted), Matt Shaw, Owen Caissie, Jordan Wicks, and Javier Assad. That seems like a win to me. The Cubs are also offered some new-found flexibility in their roster decisions for the rest of the winter — but at the very least, they have finally acquired the much-needed STAR hitter for their lineup. The Cubs now have arguably the best defensive outfield in baseball and the best player in the NL Central. The Cubs got better today; that’s the bottom line.
