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It’s as though Kyle Tucker accidentally became important at work and it ruined his life.
He just so happened to be the best available right fielder on the free agent market at the moment in time that the Dodgers were craving an uptick in right field and another functional bat to further fortify their lineup.
Basically, they wanted just another cog in the machine to help clear a path to a third consecutive World Series championship.
And because money is no object — to the objection of the rest of baseball — instead of offering Tucker a long-term deal with annual pay more in line with his talents, the Dodgers slapped a four-year, $240-million deal on the table.
Said, essentially: Hey, guy, how would you like a Major League Baseball record for average annual value — about $57.1 million per year — not to be the man, but to be a guy?
Not to outshine Shohei Ohtani and his starry pals, not to move merch off the field or do huge numbers on it. Just to quietly do what he did the previous season as a Chicago Cub, when he slashed .266/.377/.464 with 22 home runs, 73 RBIs and 25 stolen bases in 136 games.
It must have felt like winning the lottery. All the introverted Tucker had to do was be his normal self with the understanding that no one expected him to live up to that Ohtani-type contract, that Juan Soto-esque dough, that Aaron Judge-level cheddar.
It wasn’t that too much was expected of Tucker, it was that only so much was.
That was a weird place to start. And it obviously didn’t help him find his footing as a Dodger, because he still hasn’t gained traction.
“I mean, it’s been a struggle in the sense that I’d like to help our team win and perform better for the guys in the clubhouse and the fans that come to the games,” Tucker said Friday. “In that aspect, I wish I would’ve done better this year. But like I said, we’ve still got a month and a half left and the playoffs coming up, so it’s not over yet.”
Kyle Tucker finally ended his career-high hitless streak at seven games with a double during the Dodgers’ win over Colorado.
We can’t, of course, say “poor Kyle Tucker” as he strains — less stoically now — to figure it out with the postseason closing in.
But we can wonder if it was a poor decision by the Dodgers, with all of their top-flight minor league outfield prospects, to splurge so steeply?