Expected NY Mets contract offer to Kyle Tucker fails to answer the big question

Some specifics on what it is the New York Mets are looking to sign Kyle Tucker for are now publicly known but within a wide range. Will Sammon reports they are seeking a three-year deal in the $120-140 million range.

About what was to be expected, a deal worth $40+ million per season on a short-term contract, feels like a safe bet for the Mets and an opportunity for Tucker to get paid a lot now and get a more reasonable contract in the future that maybe doesn’t have as high of an AAV.

Is it unheard of for him to get paid $140 million over the next three seasons and then $150 for the five after on a new contract? In either case, this monstrous contract fails to answer the one question no one has an answer to.

The biggest question of all isn’t answered: is it even close to enough?

Free agent dot connecting hasn’t made Tucker any more a Mets player than not. Yeah, there are Houston Astros ties with people like Troy Snitker, Kip Gross, and even David Stearns. Familiarity isn’t always the best thing. Cashing the fattest paycheck he can seems to be the priority here.

Is this the kind of offer that’ll go unmatched? With the lone competitors appearing to be the Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays, the Mets have two teams who could conceivably go overboard to land the star outfielder.

Getting into the nitty-gritty of it, those nasty monsters called taxes could always play a factor. A team from New York, California, and Canada make a bid for a free agent. The taxes against Tucker are going to be astronomical wherever it is he chooses.

As specific as this contract offer appears to be, it doesn’t make it any clearer if it’s within the range of what Tucker and his camp are willing to accept. One possibility to really make it enticing is to frontload it with $50 million coming his way in 2026.

The finances of any offer to Tucker seem to have gotten complicated with deferred money as well as potential opt-outs being a significant part of what he’ll get. The Mets’ desire to give Edwin Diaz more money in the future than immediately was one of the reasons why he chose the Dodgers. They can’t be stingy here with Tucker. In fact, they kind of can get away with being ridiculous with whatever offer they do make.

Tucker isn’t represented by Boras so we don’t know enough about what he wants. He’s not a flashy player who has ever been “the man” on his own team.

When Juan Soto was a free agent, there was no doubt. The Mets needed to sign him. It didn’t matter on what terms. The guy was going to get paid a record amount. Free agency has played out much differently for Tucker. No one seems ready to give him the decade-long $400 million deal once believed to be reserved for him. It’s now a matter of seeing if the Dodgers or Blue Jays can beat what the Mets can send his way, among other things such as location, what non-financial aspects he desires most, and which organization he is most comfortable with.