{"id":127426,"date":"2025-12-02T00:29:04","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T00:29:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=127426"},"modified":"2025-12-02T00:29:04","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T00:29:04","slug":"cubs-kyle-tucker-backup-plan-could-be-these-2-veteran-outfielders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=127426","title":{"rendered":"Cubs&#8217; Kyle Tucker Backup Plan Could Be These 2 Veteran Outfielders"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\">Just about nobody is giving the Chicago Cubs a chance to re-sign star slugger Kyle Tucker in free agency this offseason.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\">And there&#8217;s a good reason for this. Tucker is expected to get somewhere between $300 to $400 million. That would essentially be twice as much money as Chicago has ever given a player in the franchise&#8217;s history. As good as Tucker is, the front office is clearly not comfortable offering him that amount of money, which is why it seems highly unlikely that he&#8217;ll be back in a Cubs uniform by Opening Day 2026.<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption>Chicago Cubs outfielder Kyle Tucker | Jonathan Hui-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\">Many want the Cubs to pursue either Cody Bellinger or Kyle Schwarber as a potential replacement for Tucker&#8217;s production in the lineup. Yet, Jed Hoyer and the Cubs&#8217; brass have conveyed that their focus is on improving the pitching staff and then potentially pivoting to the starting lineup once that is done.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\">And since this team is notoriously fiscal, it&#8217;s hard to imagine Chicago dropping serious cash on multiple top players, especially if they already did so on an ace-caliber starter.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\">Not to mention that the Cubs already have a loaded outfield, and several of their top prospects (including Owen Caissie and Kevin Alcantara) could be ready to join the outfield mix in 2026.<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption>Chicago Cubs designated hitter Owen Caissie (19) in the dugout during the fifth inning against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre. | John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\"><strong>MORE<\/strong>: Cubs Get Discouraging News On Top Pitching Trade Targets<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"inline-text-8\">Two Free Agent Outfielders That Seem To Make Sense<\/h2>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\">All of this is to say that it really doesn&#8217;t seem likely that Chicago will make a splash in the outfield this winter. If they&#8217;re going to acquire a player, it will probably be a veteran who can step in as a fourth option in case of injury and until Caissie and Alcantara are ready for the big leagues.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\">In this case, former Dodgers outfielder Michael Conforto and Mets outfielder Jesse Winker seem to be Chicago&#8217;s best fits. Both guys are coming off disappointing 2025 campaigns (Conforto hit .199 with a .648 OPS and lost his job in the postseason, while Winker only played in 26 games because of injuries).<\/p>\n<figure>\n<blockquote>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">I think losing Jesse Winker for the majority of 2025 changed the course of the Mets season. pic.twitter.com\/g8w0bdQ7ys<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 TonyMetro (@TonyMetroMLB) October 18, 2025<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<p id=\"inline-text-12\">However, both of these guys are better than what they were able to contribute last season. And since both will come relatively cheap (Spotrac projects Conforto will sign a one-year, $7.4 million deal and Winker will get a five-year, $29 million deal), these would be low-risk, cost-effective insurance options to help ensure the Cubs&#8217; outfield remains a strength heading into 2026.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-13\">While these two names aren&#8217;t as appealing as some of the top free agents, they&#8217;re more in line with how Chicago typically spends in free agency, and could end up having high upside.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-14\"><u><em><strong>The Latest Chicago Cubs News<\/strong><\/em><\/u><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-15\">Cubs Named Best Fit For Cy Young Candidate Free Agent Pitcher<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-16\">Cubs Must Abandon Kyle Tucker Pursuit To Sign Top Replacement Before It&#8217;s Too Late<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-17\">Cubs Losing Star Free Agent Reliever To Braves Would Be Massive Blow<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-18\">Why Cubs&#8217; Nico Hoerner Is An &#8216;Ideal&#8217; Trade Candidate<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Just about nobody is giving the Chicago Cubs a chance to re-sign star slugger Kyle Tucker in free agency this offseason. And there&#8217;s a good reason for this. Tuc<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":127427,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-127426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Cubs&#039; Kyle Tucker Backup Plan Could Be These 2 Veteran Outfielders - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=127426\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cubs&#039; Kyle Tucker Backup Plan Could Be These 2 Veteran Outfielders - NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Just about nobody is giving the Chicago Cubs a chance to re-sign star slugger Kyle Tucker in free agency this offseason. 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