By Chandler Rome, Ken Rosenthal, Sahadev Sharma and Patrick Mooney
DALLAS — The Houston Astros traded outfielder Kyle Tucker to the Chicago Cubs on Friday afternoon, completing a frenzied 72 hours for two clubs confronting a crossroads.
The Astros will receive a package that includes infielder Isaac Paredes, right-hander Hayden Wesneski and infield prospect Cam Smith, league sources told The Athletic.
For a Cubs team that was in desperate need of a star, Tucker answers one of the biggest questions facing the organization since trading away the World Series core at the 2021 trade deadline. Working within ownership’s parameters, Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer has hesitated to pay free-agent prices for the biggest names in recent offseasons, falling well short when the Los Angeles Dodgers landed Shohei Ohtani last winter and not even entering the Juan Soto bidding war won by the New York Mets.
Tucker is projected to earn a $15.8 million salary this winter — his last as an arbitration-eligible player. Tucker will turn 28 in January and, next winter, should command a massive payday in the wake of Soto’s $765 million contract with the Mets.
Among all major-league outfielders, only Soto, Aaron Judge and Mookie Betts have accumulated more wins above replacement than Tucker since 2020. A fractured shin cost Tucker 79 games last season, but he still managed to produce 4.7 bWAR and a 181 OPS+ across 339 plate appearances.
Trading Tucker is a departure from Houston’s standard operating procedure during this decade of dominance, but payroll bloated by misallocated money coupled with a fallow farm system all but forced third-year general manager Dana Brown to make Tucker available.
That Houston owner Jim Crane has never guaranteed a player more than $151 million must’ve factored into the discussion, too. In the wake of Soto’s contract, Tucker could receive a free-agent deal next winter worth at least $400 million.
For the Cubs, this is the next level of a more transactional, data-driven strategy under Hoyer, who’s entering the final season of the five-year contract he signed when he replaced Theo Epstein.
GO DEEPER
Why Kyle Tucker fits what the Chicago Cubs are looking for
The Cubs acquired Paredes less than five months ago from the Tampa Bay Rays, giving up Christopher Morel and two young pitchers. The Astros had heavy interest in Paredes during the trade deadline and, according to one major-league source, “finished second” to the Cubs in bidding.
At that trade deadline, the Cubs did not operate as traditional buyers or sellers, taking a blended approach to adding and subtracting major-league talent while trying to build for the future.
That evolving philosophy had led the Cubs to Wesneski, a pitcher targeted at the 2022 trade deadline for his potential upside as a starter. The Cubs swapped Scott Effross, a sidearm reliever under long-term control, for Wesneski, an upper-level prospect in the New York Yankees’ farm system.
Wesneski, who grew up in the Houston area, didn’t quite put it all together at Wrigley Field, but he has been an effective major-league swingman and could benefit from a change of scenery.
The Cubs selected Smith out of Florida State in the first round of this year’s draft, adding him to their growing group of top-100 prospects. That gradual accumulation of young talent opened new possibilities and encouraged a deliberate front office to make a blockbuster win-now trade.
But despite paying a hefty price, Hoyer now has an offensive centerpiece. It’s a group with solid — but not spectacular — talent. Surrounding Tucker with the likes of Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki — along with Nico Hoerner and Dansby Swanson — extends a lineup that lacked the type of player that opponents have to game plan around. Tucker’s presence will elevate the rest of the group and help bring some stability to a lineup that too often went in deep funks.
The price to acquire Tucker was hefty — especially for a player who’s only one season away from free agency — but he changes the dynamic of this Cubs offense. Since 2020, only nine players have topped Tucker’s 143 wRC+ during that span. Since 2010, only Anthony Rizzo or Kris Bryant have put up a season of 140 wRC+ or greater in a Cubs uniform.
Tucker also is an all-around threat as a strong baserunner and a Gold Glove winner in right field. He has extensive postseason experience, having played in 64 playoff games and helping the Astros win the 2022 World Series.
The Cubs expect Tucker to help them get back to October baseball at Wrigley Field.
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(Photo: Tim Warner / Getty Images)
