The Chicago Cubs reached an agreement with Kyle Tucker for his 2025 season salary, staving off a possible arbitration hearing. Tucker, who the Cubs traded for earlier this offseason, is slated to make $16.5M in 2025 as per the one-year deal. In the negotiations leading up to the agreement, Tucker and his representation were asking for $17.5M, while the Chicago Cubs were offering $15M. The compromise gives Tucker $4.5M more than he made in 2024 with the Houston Astros.
The $16.5M is likely the only money the Chicago Cubs will ever commit to Tucker. He is set to hit full free agency in a year, and his asking price may be too rich for the Cubs’ blood. For at least this season in Chicago, the two sides were able to hammer out a deal ahead of the Cubs Convention, where fans will get their first true glimpse at the star outfielder. As spring training nears, the excitement around Tucker has increased, and finalizing his contract agreement for the season is just the latest step in that process.
Kyle Tucker Agrees on Deal with Chicago Cubs
The Chicago Cubs traded for Kyle Tucker earlier this offseason in the biggest transaction made by the team since signing Dansby Swanson. After giving up a pair of major leaguers and a top prospect, the Cubs are ready to put Tucker in right field and see how far he could take the team in 2025. Now, the only possible barrier to that has been removed. Kyle Tucker’s camp and the Chicago Cubs front office have agreed on a one-year deal to avoid arbitration.
The deal will be Tucker’s last arbitration settlement before he hits free agency next winter. The year before that, in 2023, Tucker made just $5M, and on Houston’s World Series championship team in 2022, Tucker was making less than $1M. The rise in pay is reflective of one of the biggest rises in baseball’s production over the last few seasons.
The negotiations of the deal were not that far apart. Tucker and his representation got closer to their number than what the Chicago Cubs were proposing. Reports indicated that the Chicago front office had offered Tucker $15M for 2025, and his party responded with a counteroffer of $17.5M. With the details of his contract cemented, the focus can go towards the impact that Tucker will have on the field this season. The sides were able to come to this agreement ahead of Tucker’s appearance at the Chicago Cubs’ annual offseason ‘Cubs Convention,’ where he will be properly introduced to his new hometown fans with his contract status ensured.
Final Thoughts
It’s no surprise that Tucker and the team were able to agree on this contract. In a sport that deals with hundreds of millions of dollars in salary every season, $2.5M was never going to drive a significant wedge between the sides before Tucker had ever run out to right field at Wrigley. Now that his contract status is cemented and squared away, attention moves towards baseball. Tucker instantly becomes the best bat in the lineup and one of the better fielders on the team.
It will be interesting to see how he meshes with this Chicago Cubs team. There could be some tension about his contract status next offseason when he is a true free agent, but the more pressing issue for the 2025 team is the logjam in the outfield that Tucker adds himself to. Between Ian Happ, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Seiya Suzuki, and Tucker, finding a rotation and the best defensive outfield will be a storyline early in the season for the Chicago Cubs.