When the Los Angeles Dodgers signed Kyle Tucker in the offseason, many fans thought it was guaranteed to help them three-peat.
However, Tucker is not having a good season and looks like an absolute bust of a signing. He is hitting .230 with an OPS below .700 and has just 11 home runs. On Saturday, Dave Roberts benched him as his struggles at Dodger Stadium were causing some frustration.
He is 0-for-24 in the last seven games, has dropped a couple of fly balls and was even booed at home. The good thing for the Dodgers is that their lineup has plenty of other All-Stars to pick up the slack. However, as the games get more important, it becomes harder to justify keeping Tucker in the lineup.
He makes too much money to be on the bench, but he also makes too much money to be playing this poorly. On the road, he has an .822 OPS, but that does not help much when the Dodgers can't play on the road every night.
Last year, Tucker was an All-Star, but had much better numbers on the road than at Wrigley Field. However, he had a terrible second half. This year is shaping up to be more of the same. The Dodgers should look at how things went last year and use it as an example of what not to do, which is letting him play regularly.
Benching Tucker would be a bold move and raise tons of questions. However, Dave Roberts is not afraid of making unpopular moves to help his team win.