The Los Angeles Dodgers signed Kyle Tucker to a four-year, $240 million deal in the offseason and the intial reaction among baseball fans was that the league was ruined.
Going into free agency, there were rumors that Tucker would sign a deal north of $400 million, despite a bad second half with the Chicago Cubs. He was an All-Star in each of the last four seasons, but his numbers were slightly down at Wrigley Field and he played through an injury in the second half of the season. Many expected him to go back to putting up 30-homer seasons in Los Angeles, but it has not been the case.
Tucker is slashing .244/.341/.375/ through 91 games. He's making too much money to be hitting as poorly as he has.
It's starting to look like that his poor play in the second half of last seaosn was more than just a result of his injury and the hitting conditions at Wrigley Field. However, he still has time to turn things around. He has just seven home runs this season, which has him on pace to post less than 20 homers for the first time since the pandemi shortened 2020 season.
Tucker ended the first half slashing .286/.390/.343. His slugging is still down, but he looked better in his final 11 games of the first half. The Dodgers are thinking about a three-peat, and if Tucker heats up he could be a huge factor. However, until that happens, it will look like the Dodgers made a mistake paying him so much money.