How Cubs, Jed Hoyer view Kyle Tucker free agency as offseason begins

CHICAGO — The last memory of Kyle Tucker, for many Cubs fans, might be him striking out with two runners on base in the sixth inning of the winner-take-all, Game 5 of the NLDS against the Milwaukee Brewers.

It shouldn’t be the enduring image, though.

“I do think when we were at our best, Kyle was at his best, and vice versa,” Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said at his end-of-season press conference on Wednesday. “There’s no question he had a huge impact on his team.”

[WATCH: Jed Hoyer’s full end-of-season press conference on the Marquee Sports Network App]

Sure, it’s natural for Cubs fans to remember the guy who hit .225 with five home runs and a .690 OPS after July 1, but that does not tell the story of a player who likely will be the most coveted hitter on the free-agent market this winter. He hit .291 with 17 home runs, 52 RBI, 20 stolen bases and a .931 OPS through the end of June. Tucker was the starting left fielder in the All-Star Game and looked, not only like a 30-30 candidate, but an MVP candidate.

Tucker suffered a fracture in his hand in June, sliding into second on a stolen base attempt. That month was still his best of the season, but the injury might’ve created bad habits that led to poor performances down the stretch, and then he missed almost all of September with a left calf strain.

That was the tale of the Cubs’ season, too. Through June, the Cubs had scored 453 runs (5.39 runs per game), the second-best mark in baseball. From July on, they scored 340 (4.36 runs per game), the 12th-fewest.

[READ: How Kyle Tucker digests Cubs playoff loss, impending free agency]

Not to steal Dexter Fowler’s thunder, but as Tuck went, the Cubs went. And that’s why Hoyer and the Cubs would take back the slugger in 2026 and beyond.

“Now we’re sort of into free agency, and we’ll be talking to [Tucker’s agent] Casey [Close], and we’ll be having those conversations,” Hoyer said. “Like I said a bunch of times during the season, everyone can use a guy like Kyle Tucker.

“Everyone gets better by having a player like that, and we’ll certainly be having those conversations.”

The Cubs will hope Tucker’s season in Chicago will give them an inside track to making the one-year arrangement a long-term commitment.

“I think he’s had a good experience here, for sure,” Hoyer said. “Certainly, I think he enjoyed playing in Chicago. Certainly, Wrigley and our fans made a huge impact.”

Of course, that won’t be the deciding factor come free agency. Ultimately Tucker and his agency will choose the contract and situation that fits him best. For the Cubs, that likely will mean extending beyond where they’ve ever gone – a $200 million-plus contract. Jason Heyward’s eight-year, $184 million pact is still the largest in franchise history.

“Not connected to Kyle, in general, you have to start everything that we do with the evaluation of the player, and focus on that valuation, and then what’s that worth to the organization,” Hoyer said. “I think that’s the backbone. I think that in my career, when you make decisions that are based on your valuation, and how do you value a player, then it sort of takes some of that other stuff out of it, and you can make better decisions.

“I think if you’re reacting to how things are going around you, I think that that’s when you can make real mistakes.”

And if Tucker’s not back in Chicago in 2026, then the Cubs have to find a way to replace the production of a player who was a key cog in reaching the playoffs for the first time since 2020.

“I think that clearly Kyle had a huge impact on our offense this year,” Hoyer said. “So, if he’s not here, then that’s a void, and we have to figure out how to replace that. But there’s a lot of different ways to do that, and so I think that’ll be the focus.

“But yes, I think that there’s no question that if you don’t retain a player of his caliber, then you have to replace those wins and that WAR in some other ways, and I think that’s something we’ll be really focused on. How you do that, I think, can take many different shapes and forms.”

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