Kyle Tucker’s Cubs Tenure Was Neither Great Success Nor Failure, Just Unfulfilling
The Kyle Tucker era in Chicago may not be officially over just yet, but let’s be honest with ourselves: It’s over. If you had told me a year ago that the Cubs were going to trade for a superstar such as Tucker, I’d have been flabbergasted. That was the overall reaction when the trade occurred on December 13, 2024, just days after the groundwork was laid at the Winter Meetings. Nearly a year later, and with the season far enough in the rearview, it’s time to ask whether the trade was a smart move.
The simple answer is yes, Jed Hoyer should make that trade 10 times out of 10. The Cubs had a superstar, even if just for a year, and the lineup benefited in more ways than one. However, beyond all the bright red Baseball Savant sliders and the Cubs’ first Silver Slugger in the outfield since Sammy Sosa in 2002, a lot of negativity surrounded Tucker during his time in Chicago. The Wrigley Field faithful showered him with boos on several occasions, stemming from a perceived lack of hustle on groundouts to the right side of the infield.
Let’s dive into Tucker’s tenure and the fallout from it.
First, we must look at the package of Cam Smith, Hayden Wesneski, and Isaac Paredes that was sent to Houston. Smith, the main asset acquired by the Astros, debuted on Opening Day and posted a .765 OPS before the All-Star break. Although his performance fell off in the second half, he showed the potential that led the Cubs to draft him 14th overall in 2024.
Wesneski appeared in six games before undergoing Tommy John surgery, ending his season prematurely. Paredes, a heavy pull hitter, used the Crawford Boxes in left field to his advantage by hitting 20 homers in just 102 games as he battled injuries of his own. The Cubs may have acquired him at the deadline in ’24 with the idea of flipping him, especially since his approach didn’t fit as well at Wrigley, and he had more value to the Astros than pretty much any other club because of Daikin Park’s layout.
At the time of the trade, it was seen as a job-saving move for Hoyer with the potential to be legacy-defining. Hoyer entered the season with an expiring contract and likely needed to make the playoffs in order to secure his future. Theo Epstein’s acquisition of José Quintana in 2017 was probably the biggest Cubs trade in recent memory before this deal with Dana Brown and the Astros.
Not only were the Cubs relatively inactive at the top of the trade market, but they have steadfastly avoided monster contracts for superstars. Tucker was supposed to change at least one of those practices and give the North Siders what they needed to get closer to the promised land again. As the season went on, however, it became more apparent that the Cubs were unlikely to keep him in town beyond the final year of his rookie deal.
In 136 games, the outfielder posted a 136 wRC+ while earning 4.5 fWAR. He spent 115 games in right field, adding 19 at DH due to rest or injury. Tucker hit just 22 home runs, one less than he had in just 78 games last season and his lowest total since becoming a regular in 2021. Despite the lack of pop, he still created value with a 14.6% walk rate, .377 OBP, and 25 stolen bases. Craig Counsell‘s lineup was better with Tucker in it…until it wasn’t.
Across March and April, he had seven home runs with a 156 wRC+ and a .935 OPS. He took a slight dip in May, but rebounded with a .311 average, .982 OPS, and a season-high 172 wRC+ for the month of June. What makes that production even more interesting is that Tucker fractured his hand on June 1 against the Reds while sliding into second base.
The right fielder decided to play through the injury rather than spend time on the injured list, and it looked for a while like that was the right choice. Unfortunately, that didn’t remain the case. Tucker followed his red-hot June with his worst month of the season in July, hitting just .218 with a meager .675 OPS. As we covered in August, his swing speed was down dramatically and Hoyer admitted publicly that some mechanical changes after the injury were probably to blame. The struggles continued into August, with Tucker’s frustration growing daily.
Kyle Tucker's helmet throw was clocked at 99.4 mph.
It is an MLB and helmet chucking record pic.twitter.com/4wVfBmmz7P
— Statfax (@statfax) August 13, 2025
Fans started to take notice, raining down boos during an August 17 game against the Pirates in which Tucker nonchalantly jogged down the line after grounding out to first. He was benched just two days later as a way to “take a little step back” mentally with the stretch run looming.
Fans at Wrigley Field just showered Kyle Tucker with boos after he grounded out to first base and didn’t run it out.
Tucker hasn’t hit a home run since July 19th pic.twitter.com/64W3kPdxmt— Jacob Zanolla (@jacobzanolla) August 17, 2025
After some time off, Tucker hit three home runs in two days against the Angels and things seemed to be getting better. Tucker had refused an IL stint earlier in the year, and a similar case emerged in September when he suffered a calf strain. After a week of sitting on the bench and supposedly being available, the Cubs finally put him on the IL in the hopes that he could be healthy enough for the final playoff push.
We’ll never know whether a more proactive approach and perhaps a little more cooperation from their best hitter would have led to better results. Still, there were stretches in which the Cubs willingly played shorthanded with Tucker on the bench instead of giving opportunities to a healthier player. The whole thing with Tucker leaving the team to see his personal physical therapist in Tampa rubbed a few folks the wrong way as well, whether it was viewing him as a prima donna or questioning the Cubs’ medical staff.
Either way, there was plenty of frustration to go around. When the Cubs celebrated clinching a postseason berth in Pittsburgh, it was without their most important player. Tucker came back for the final series of the regular season, but only collected one hit in three games against the Cardinals.
He had seven hits in eight postseason games, but his at-bat in the 6th inning of Game 5 against the Brewers will be remembered by Cubs fans for quite some time. After a 3-1 strike, he went down swinging on a nasty fastball from Aaron Ashby in what was one of the best scoring chances the team had all night. And thus, in all likelihood, ended his brief time in a Cubs uniform.
Viewed with a wide lens, Tucker’s season was successful and full of positives. However, it was also full of question marks and frustrations when you zoom in closer. After missing a large portion of the 2024 season due to a fractured shin, the last thing he needed during his contract year was to miss time with more injuries. Playing through those issues may have been worse for him in the long run than resting would have been, but he seemed determined to avoid an injury designation. His next contract will tell us whether he made the right choices on that front.
It didn’t take long for the conversation to turn from how the Cubs had to pay Tucker whatever he wanted to whether they’d be better off finding other ways to replace his production. And that’s not just Cubs fans. Other very astute observers with the benefit of objectivity are skeptical of the right fielder’s ability
“I wouldn’t pay $400 million for Kyle Tucker’s services,” The Athletic’s Eno Sarris tweeted recently. “Pretty good at a lot of things, not elite at anything.”
Some team is going to give him a very large sum of money, it just isn’t likely to be the Cubs. Then it’ll be a matter of seeing whether we will look back at Tucker’s time in Chicago more with regret for what could have been or like trying to remember the name of your best friend from elementary school who you haven’t thought about in years.
