The Mets are very interested in Kyle Tucker - here's how they can land him
Plus, where they might stand in landing some major help for their starting rotation
What’s up with the Mets? 🍎
The Mets adding either Framber Valdez or Ranger Suárez feels “inevitable” - the Orioles are believed to be the Mets biggest competition for them (ESPN.com | B’more Banner)
The Mets, Blue Jays and Dodgers are among the “most aggressive” suitors for OF Kyle Tucker (SNY)
The faith the front office has in Carson Benge is “real," though the team is still expected to add to the outfield and the rotation this winter (The Athletic)
Nolan McLean was named MLB’s best pitching prospect in this year’s exec’s prospect poll. Multiple Mets prospects received votes in various categories, including Benge, Brandon Sproat, and Mitch Voit (MLB.com)
Rumor Mill 💨
The Red Sox are still considered the favorite to sign Alex Bregman to a deal this winter, although Arizona and Toronto the top threats to Boston (MLB.com)
The Rockies are in the market for some veteran starting pitching (MLB.com)
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How can the Mets win the Kyle Tucker sweepstakes? ✍️
It would appear that, despite recent reports of their preference for Cody Bellinger, the Mets are among the most active teams in Kyle Tucker’s ongoing free agency.
The outfielder was excellent for the Cubs this past season, as his 136 wRC+ ranked 16th best in all of baseball and fifth among right fielders. Tucker’s issues continue to be his health – as he only played 136 games this past season after missing time in September due to a calf strain. He was about league average defensively in 2025, although he has historically been a plus-defending outfielder with a strong arm. He is far less versatile than Bellinger, who can play all three outfield positions and first base, whereas Tucker is really only a corner outfielder.
Previously predicted to fetch a megadeal in the neighborhood of $400 million, Tucker’s market has moved like molasses this winter. Rumor flurries aside, all seems mostly quiet on his front. Per new reporting from MLB.com, that relative silence could have Tucker and his team pivoting their signing strategy to the short-term, high-AAV deal that reigned supreme for megastars last winter, chiefly Alex Bregman and Pete Alonso.
Alongside the Mets in their “aggressive” pursuit of Tucker are, shocker, the Dodgers and the Blue Jays. There’s no actual shock here — those two teams have been at the forefront of this sweepstakes since it began. The Jays, in particular, have been linked to Tucker seemingly longer than anyone – since the instant the World Series ended, if not before it started, it seemed like a foregone conclusion that Tucker would be just one of several megadeals Toronto would be doling out this winter.
Even considering their noteworthy spending spree this offseason, which reached new heights with the Kazuma Okamoto deal, Toronto doesn’t seem out of anyone’s market. GM Ross Atkins said during Okamoto’s introductory press conference that though he likes where the roster currently sits, the front office will continue to improve the team in ‘creative ways’ as they reveal themselves.
In other words, that’s classic GM speak.
Toronto has room to bring on a long-term corner outfielder, and they’ve exhibited a willingness this winter to spend freely on players they like.
And yet, with all the above considered, it’s still the Dodgers that scare me the most in the Tucker race, and the Mets will need to go more than above and beyond to woo him away from Los Angeles.
Despite how persistent the connection between Toronto and Tucker has been, there hasn’t been much tangible motion between the two sides beyond an invitation to the Jays’ training facility and some interactions on Instagram from franchise cornerstones. Maybe it’s wishful thinking or just fully fallacious to think this way, but I can’t help but feel that if a deal here was going to get done, it would’ve been done already. Toronto has handed out plenty of money this offseason, including an over-the-top seven-year deal to Dylan Cease. I’m curious where the delay is coming from on this specific end, especially with ample money coming off the Jays’ books after the 2026 season and potential for a short-term high-paying deal on Tucker’s theoretical table.
Andrew Friedman and the Dodgers, meanwhile, would assuredly love to jump at the chance to pay Tucker handsomely to extend their championship window for another few seasons. Yes, the Mets have previously proven a willingness to beat LA at their own game in this sense – we all remember when they gave Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander north of $43 million a year apiece, although they lost to them in the Yoshinobu Yamamoto sweepstakes and obviously took a big blow from them over Edwin Díaz. The Mets have also shown a clear preference for high-priced, short-term contracts this winter, though they haven’t shown a willingness to go the extra financial mile.
Yet, anyway.
So, how can the Mets sway Tucker away from LA?
The answer, to me, is frustratingly obvious: money. It’s going to take a lot of money.
I wracked my brain trying to find any sort of leg up the Mets might have on the Dodgers or Blue Jays that makes them a sneaky frontrunner in this contest, but unfortunately, I don’t think such a foothold exists – at least not in plain sight.
All three of these teams have ample money to spend. But two of them are fresh off a World Series appearance, and one of them has won back-to-back titles. All three of these teams are in exciting competitive windows, but two of them offer more recently demonstrated championship potential and deeper, more complete lineups. Additionally, the Mets’ brass has repeatedly mentioned that leaving runway for the prospects to play is a priority for this season – adding Tucker on a short-term deal would leave the youth runway largely unaffected, but that may communicate the wrong message, that their prospects are a larger long-term priority than finding a home for Tucker in their lineup.
So, if this team wants to be taken seriously in their pursuits of both this contract and a championship in October, the front office needs to go the extra mile they’ve shied away from thus far this winter. If they really want this guy, they need to roll out the green carpet and offer more annual dollars than anyone else, by a lot, especially if that proposed short-term deal comes with opt-outs. If the goal is to assemble a playoff-caliber roster in which Tucker would serve as an expensive rental to balance/boost the lineup while Benge gets his legs under him (and Ewing gets a full extra year to develop), they’ll have quite a bit of work to do to convince Tucker that Queens is the place he should be, if that even sounds compelling to him at all.
Think about it from this perspective. If all three teams are in the short and medium-term range at similar dollars, why would Tucker choose the Mets in that scenario? The Mets would have to topple any offer from any other team in that situation, and in doing so be comfortable relinquishing the pick associated with Tucker’s qualifying offer (they’re probably okay with that) plus the penalty in International Free Agency (I am not sure how palatable that part is).
Is there any angle other than financial that the Mets can offer Tucker that LA and Toronto can’t? Not that I can see, but I’d really love to be proven wrong.
The Mets aren’t giving out any long term FA contracts this year. Should a Tucker fall to them it’ll be with opt outs.
Get real, guys. The Mets are not landing Tucker or Bellinger!!!!
Stearns wants to make room for Benge and Jett Williams in the OF for 2026. They both may not arrive until ASB, but Stearns does not want to block their progress and ascent to
"The Show".
Instead, they will sign a player like Bader and split CF/LF between him, Taylor and Acuna until the young uns ' are ready.
One other caveat:
AJ Ewing is the future CF in this organization. He may not be ready until 2027. But they also need to make room for him as he may be the most exciting player to arrive on the Mets in the next several years (think Lenny Dykstra with more base-stealing potential).