Chicago Cubs: MLB Insider hints at cynical Cubs Kyle Tucker strategy

“No,” Rogers wrote on Twitter/X, responding to a question about whether the Cubs would re-sign the four-time All-Star. “They were never going to. Anyone that said different was wrong.”

Rogers would follow that up with an insistence that the goal in acquiring Tucker was simply to make the playoffs this season. It had nothing to do with winning a World Series or even having him be part of a long-term World Series-level team.

“Who said anything about winning the WS?,” Rogers replied. “They haven’t made the postseason since 2018. That was the goal. Then its hope for the best. If they build up a good team for several years, they’ll prob make that big deadline deal that helps for WS and not just playoffs.”

A slap in the face

If accurate, that’s a pretty brutal slap in the face to Cubs fans who were sold throughout the offseason that their team was aggressively “all-in” when it came to establishing a winning atmosphere. They were led to believe that acquiring Tucker was proof positive of this new mindset as buzz circled throughout the season of the team’s willingness to be competitive in bidding for his services as he headed out into free agency.

In December, the Cubs traded third baseman Isaac Paredes, pitcher Hayden Wesneski, and no. 1 draft pick Cam Smith for Tucker, who was due to become a free agent at the end of the 2025 season.

The multi-tool right fielder was lauded as the linchpin for an overwhelming Cubs offense in the first half of the season, but quickly fell out of favor after the beginning of July. The 28-year-old would then suffer through an extended career-worst slump that lasted nearly two months. Shortly thereafter, he’d be put on the shelf for more than three weeks with a left calf strain. So far this postseason, he’s registered a feeble .176 batting average with no home runs and no RBIs in the DH role.

The Chicago Cubs work in half-measures

However, despite an increasing feeling that Cubs ownership would be justified in passing on Tucker in favor of other assets, it would still smart to find out that the goal in acquiring him was simply to make the team just good enough to get to the postseason.

Sam Olbur of the Locked on Cubs podcast talked up this feeling Monday night, before Rogers made his thoughts public:

“It just doesn’t feel like this year they looked at it and said “hey, let’s do it.’ Even though, before the year, they went out and got Kyle Tucker…It just feels like there’s always one foot in the water and one foot out with this team. ‘Hey, we’re going to go trade for Kyle Tucker so we can make sure we’re competitive, but no, no no…no Max Fried…no, no. no…Luzardo, we’re worried about that…no, no, no…We’re not gonna go all-in at the deadline’…It’s just this, ‘let’s have our hand in there, let’s be good enough…’”

So, where do we go from here if the goal is always to just be ‘good enough’ to compete without going too far in money or trades to truly build an elite team?

Maybe the Cubs’ future under current management is nothing but Wild Card aspirations amid budget considerations.