Add a Kikuci and Robert at the deadline and they're as good as anybody, if Smith/Dezenzo play as well as I think they're going to play.
Cubs fans on reddit are shaking their head. They literally have just given up. It makes no sense at all unless Tucker is going to resign. The draft pick isn't worth what they gave up. Now, if Tucker can put them over the hump in winning the pennant, then sure. Our trades for Verlander, Cole, and Kikuchi made sense. Cubs aren't that close so it makes no sense for them. I'm glad they made though. I would make that trade everyday of the week.
If Smith and Dezenzo are both even 105 OPS+ bats, this lineup is super deep. Those guys both starting would put Rodgers on the bench. And if Chas returns to form, the lineup would have no holes.
Dude. Trout averaged 9.0 WAR/season (8.9 oWAR) from 2012 - 2019 (age 20 - 27). Tucker averaged 5.2 WAR (3.8 oWAR) from age 24-27. Both of their numbers increase a little if you adjust for 162 games. An MLB GM trying to sell Tucker as a "pre-injury Trout-esque offensive player" would be met with blank stares. Tucker was always pretty streaky, too. He was on a hot streak when he got injured, but it's also a stretch to assume that his 4.7 WAR in 78 games would translate to 9.0+ WAR if he had played the full season. Tucker is a top 10-20 player, overall... maybe 8-15 if we're being generous. A sure-fire All-Star, and he would be the best player on maybe 20 MLB teams, but he's outside that "perennial MVP contender" bracket. Brown got a proper return, AND the move helped get them under the luxury tax. It currently looks like the move will be a net positive for the Astros this season, and definitely over the next 3-4 seasons. I don't see the point in all the hand-wringing over the possibility of getting one slightly better player or an extra toss-in prospect if they had moved him a few weeks earlier... and that's assuming they missed on some hypothetical market that might have existed prior to the Soto deal.
Do you really believe that the idea of trading Tucker never crossed their minds until after Soto signed? You don't think they had gauged interest or had ANY discussions, at all, to evaluate his trade value prior to December? Like, nobody could have possibly anticipated that Soto would get a monster deal (despite it being a major topic of conversation for the past 2-3 seasons), and so drastically alter Tucker's potential contract value that they were forced into action?
Excited about our upgrades on our infield defense minus the minor downgrade with parades but with Rodgers and walker our infield D looks legit
Tucker is likely going to get paid a fair wage. As such, whether he re-signs or not should not affect the deal much as the assets to re-sign Tucker didn't come in the trade.
If he was underwater it was just barely. Chapman is objectively worse and has been for years and got 1/12. Point is we absolutely bought him as a prospect bc we liked him.
The Cubs GM would hang up on you and start laughing uncontrollably. He'd then immediately text the Cubs President and Owner and tell them how he just learned the Astros are a hysterically delusional front office. Word would spread amongst the front office and the Astros would become a meme in the office, and it would get shared to other teams, because really, humor is needed so much in this world. Every team in the league would be calling Dana Brown to see what ridiculous value he might put one of their random players to see if they could fleece an obviously dumb GM. In the end, every team in MLB would be laughing at Dana and the Astros would still have Kyle Tucker.
What many fans don't understand is that a 6+ WAR player is extremely valuable. And all WAR is not created equally. One 6 WAR player is much more valuable than two 3 WAR players are. He may even be better than that. He was on pace for 9+ before getting injured, and 5.5 is basically his floor if he's healthy. Just looking at 2025, if Tucker gets 6 WAR, then Paredes, Wesneski, and Smith likely need to combine for 10+ to be as valuable as Kyle is as a single player. Now, obviously future seasons are something else entirely.
My bad. Maybe these are actually exhibition games. Sorry lol plus, I thought today was wednesday. Going back to bed.
If he stays up all season and wins Rookie of the year this year or MVP in the next 3 years, Houston gets a pick after the first round. https://www.mlb.com/news/prospect-promotion-incentive-faq
