That’s some breaking news out of baseball. This time it’s the Chicago Cubs. They have acquired two time all star outfielder Kyle Tucker from the Houston Astros, pending a physical. Tucker hit 289 with 23 home runs, 49 RBIs in 2024. Despite missing three months of the season with a broken shin.
Let’s take a look at the particulars of this deal. The Cubs are sending infielder Issac Paredes. Also pitcher Hayden Wisniewski and third base prospect Cam Smith. Let’s welcome in CBS sports baseball writer Matt Snyder for more on this. Matt, I know you jumped at the opportunity to talk about this big acquisition for the Cubs, but what does this trade say about the direction that the Cubs are taking this offseason?
Well, I would say that it’s probably we’re done with the mediocrity.
It’s time to step up when the NL central, which is definitely a winnable division right now, the Cardinals are going through a bit of a reload, not necessarily a full on rebuild, but a reload. The Pirates aren’t quite there yet. We don’t know if the Reds are going to be there. Brewers just traded away Devin Williams, although I still think the Brewers will be competitive.
But the bottom line is the Cubs should be acting like the titan of this division. A move like that signifies that they’re ready to do this. Tucker is a year away from free agency. This might look a little bit similar to the Yankees trading for one year of Juan Soto last year, but they were closer to a World Series team than the Cubs are right now.
So the Cubs need to continue to make moves, but it’s a step in the right direction because I said all year last year for this 83 win team, it’s a team full of supporting characters.
They need some main characters. Tucker is a main character with the move that gives Jed Hoyer some more flexibility to maybe make some more moves. I think Cody Bellinger to the Yankees is a big possibility. Nico Hoerner still might get traded. It might free them up to do something like sign Alex Bregman to play third base and put top prospect Matt Shaw at second.
There’s a lot of possibilities here, but it all starts with going out and getting a superstar right fielder who is a main character, to sit right in the middle of that lineup, probably.
You mentioned Alex Bregman and how this could potentially impact their ability to resign him. So when we look at one side of the trade, let’s look at the other side. What do you make of this from the Astros perspective? Yeah, Issac Paredes, he could slot at third base but he could also play first base.
They have a hole at first base. They were looking at him in front of the trade deadline last year to play first base. On the opposite side of the infield is Bregman. Right now with Bregman as a free agent, they do have some flexibility there. They can bring Bregman back, put him at third, put Paredes at first base or top prospect Zach Dicenzo could figure in the mix here.
He can play either or. They could also do something like putting Paredes at third base. And by the way, with the Crawford boxes in left field, as much of a full power hitter as Paredes, he should thrive in Minute Maid Park in the Astros home game. So this is a good ad for them. But if they decide to keep him at third and they don’t know if Dicenzo is ready yet, they could swing for somebody like Pete Alonso at first base.
They have the flexibility there because Paredes could play third base. He could even play second. If Jose Altuve got hurt, they could play him at first. It gives them options here, but overall, honestly, I don’t know why they’re trading Tucker a year away from free agency. Their outfield is not that good right now.
They have the financial wherewithal to extend him. This is not that good of a move for them. They better do something big after they did this.
Like I said, whether it’s signing Bregman, whether it’s signing Alonso, they need to do something big. All right.
We looked at both sides of the trade. Matt, give me the grade. What do you think for this one the Cubs I’m going to say a b to B plus I’ll go B plus for now. I think it’s a great move for them for now, but maybe closer to an incomplete. Because if you’re going to make this move, you need to keep going.
They need to do a lot more to make sure that the NL central is their division to lose. I don’t necessarily think they’re there yet.
I think they have the potential to get there. But you can’t just stop with this one move. Hoyer needs to keep going.
He needs to complete that Bellinger trade, I think, to the Yankees. See what he wants to do with Nico Hoerner and Matt Shaw, see where they’re going to go from there if they can add another main character type like Tucker. But I really like the move for now. B plus on the Astros and I’ll go D probably again, more incomplete because we need to see what they’re going to do here. But to give up a player of the caliber of Kyle Tucker right now and the best player you get back is Issac Paredes, at least for the here and now.
I know that you know the prospect they got back cam. He could be a great player. But he only played less than ten games in Double-A right now. So I’m just not sure about that. Cam Smith that is I we’ll see what the Astros do.
But they’ve been in the playoffs every single year. They’ve been in the ALCS most years since going back all the way to 2017. They have a couple World Series wins to get rid of. Kyle Tucker. With one year of control left, and the best player you get back is Isaac Paredes.
I just don’t love that move at all. So it’s a D for me. All right. You have to grade the entire off season so far. This is just one move.
But we talked both sides of the trade. But there’s kind of a third team associated with this because we know the Yankees were also in on Tucker. They’re still looking for a left handed bat to replace Juan Soto. So where do they turn next? Yeah it’s a bit of a domino effect, right?
When Soto got traded everybody heard that the Kyle Tucker came on the market and it was like, hey, Tucker is kind of a poor man’s Juan Soto right here. He’s definitely not Soto, but he’s very good a year away from free agency. He will cost a lot less when he gets to free agency than Soto did.
So the Yankees could pull this off. But part of the reason they made that Soto trade, they don’t have as many prospects left to deal for Kyle Tucker.
So the Cubs won that deal. But the domino effect now says the Cubs are looking to trade Bellinger to offload some of that money. The Yankees are a great fit for Cody Bellinger with that left handed pull. Heavy swing, the short porch in Yankee Stadium down the right field line. A very good fit there.
So I do think we’re going to see Bellinger end up in pinstripes.
So he’s going to be if you will the Juan Soto replacement. Even though he can’t replace Juan Soto. Not many guys could. I was going to say can anybody replace Juan Soto?
Matt Snyder, thank you so much for breaking it down for us. Let’s remind you again of those trade details. The Cubs receive. Kyle Tucker and the Astros get three players along with it Isaac Paredes, you’ve got Hayden.