Not that Chicago Cubs fans weren’t already begging Jed Hoyer to give Kyle Tucker however much money he wants in free agency this offseason, but now the star outfielder is simply turning up the pressure — albeit unintentionally. On Wednesday, Tucker made a relatively rare appearance on his Instagram Stories with a repost of the Cubs that featured Tucker at Wrigley Field with the caption, “feels good to be a cub.”
Tucker’s infrequent social media activity has been full of posts and stories that have seemingly made one thing clear: He’s enjoying being a member of the Cubs and being in Chicago. Likewise, fans have more than enjoyed Tucker being on the club as well. How could you not when the Cubs have a stronghold on the NL Central with Tucker, even while dealing with a lingering finger injury, has been dominant. Through 72 games, he’s posted 3.1 bWAR while slashing .284/.394/.515 with 13 homers, 15 doubles and four triples to go with 43 RBI.
With that production for a player set to be a free agent entering 2026, there’s no escaping the fact that Tucker is going to paid — like paid, paid. There have been some who have speculated a contract valued at $600 million in total for the Cubs star in the upcoming offseason, but it will surely be north of $500 million.
That’s something that Hoyer and the Cubs knew was a possibility when they traded for Tucker with the Astros ahead of the 2025 season. However, this and Tucker’s clear love for the Cubs and Chicago only makes it more pressing that Hoyer not let the pending free agent out of the organization’s grasp.
Kyle Tucker IG post leaves Cubs, Jed Hoyer no room for excuses
Despite Hoyer’s frustrating reluctance to spend at this level in recent years, the Cubs have the money to be able to fork out that kind of dough, especially to a player of Tucker’s caliber who clearly helps make Chicago a perennial contender. There has never been an excuse for not spending, frankly, but that’s even more so the case in this situation.
Make no bones about it, Tucker is a legitimate superstar at this point in his career. Including this current season, Tucker’s low single-season OPS after his rookie year has been .808 and he’s had a .900+ OPS last season and now this year. He’s the type of hitter that a lineup for the future can be built around, even more so when considering that he won’t turn 29 years old until January 2026.
That alone probably makes him worth the money that he’s going to demand in free agency. However, the question would then be if Chicago is the place that Tucker actually wants to be. It’s only Instagram and social media, but that too appears to be the case.
Subsequently, Hoyer is going to have to finally listen to the clamors of Cubs fans on this one. They want nothing more than for Tucker to be a face of the franchise for years to come. And since that’s what the star outfielder wants as well, there’s simply no way that the Cubs front office can justify not putting a massive number in their checkbook and handing it to Tucker this offseason.
