Kyle Tucker being the top NY Mets target all along makes sense of this offseason

You don’t trade Brandon Nimmo before Thanksgiving without a plan in left field. What if this was part of the masterplan all along for the New York Mets? You read the market and see that despite expectations for a contract north of $400 million in some places, Kyle Tucker wasn’t so popular?

It’s an opportunity few would’ve expected prior to the 2025 season. Tucker wasn’t bad for the Chicago Cubs. He was far from unworldly. Older than Juan Soto when he became a free agent by a few years and less productive in his walk-year, the trend of going the route as players like Alex Bregman and Pete Alonso last offseason might have crept into the mind of Tucker and his agent.

Get paid a boatload now and try to just be closer to your normal self next winter. Someone out there is sure to have a willingness to take you on for a year at a high AAV with a player option for a second year as a “just in case.” What if David Stearns jiggled his magical 8 ball and this is exactly what he was told when the offseason began in far fewer words?

If Kyle Tucker on a short-term deal was always a part of the Mets’ plan, the offseason makes a lot more sense

We tend to want to believe the lies we’re told by executives, agents, and even the mouthpieces of those who’ll benefit from rumors. The truth is, a lot of people don’t know anything. It’s a different kind of game played in the winter. Financially, it’s a game of “everyone wins” but who wins the most?

There never was a guarantee for Tucker’s free agency to drag like this and in the end we could always see a team like the Toronto Blue Jays or Los Angeles Dodgers award him with a reasonable contract that spans a half-decade or more. The Mets appear to be only in the market for a shorter contract and we can accept that. Even their deal with Soto can become a 5-year contract if they choose.

According to their website, becoming a member of MENSA requires a credit card handy along with proof you passed one of their tests. Sounds archaic. You can skip all of that and instead work your way up with several MLB organizations and read the 2025-2026 free agent market to perfection. Lower the expectations of every Mets fan and voila! Sign the one free agent no one reasonably thought you would because that was all a part of your plan. This'll be the road Stearns took to forever being called a genius.

Making sense of this offseason’s Mets plans has been the frustrating part. Not as aggressive as they were last year, they’ve fallen more in line with the rest of the traffic and seem to have their eyes set on something. Tucker? It would seem so.