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Kyle Tucker contract projection reveals exactly why Astros traded him this offseason

Eric Cole
Eric Cole

Climbing Tal's Hill

Los Angeles Angels v Houston Astros / Tim Warner/GettyImages

The decision to trade Kyle Tucker this offseason was certainly contentious among Houston Astros fans. On one hand, moving Tucker almost certainly makes the 2025 Astros a bit worse and takes a really talented player (almost) completely out of Houston's future plans. However, it was becoming apparent that extending Tucker was unlikely and trading him now provided a replacement for Alex Bregman in the short and long-term in Isaac Paredes and Cam Smith.

Whether or not extending Tucker was on the table is where the crux of this debate lies. If an extension was possible and reasonable, then shipping him off was probably a dubious choice. But if there was no world in which Tucker was staying, then moving him while he still has a full year of team control left is the best value play.

It appears as though the Astros made the right choice given what we are hearing about a potential Tucker extension now. CBS Sports recently put out their list of MLB extension candidates with predictions and Tucker was predicted to command a 10 year, $350 million deal.

Kyle Tucker $350 million extension prediction was just never going to happen with the Astros

To be clear, this isn't an argument for or against Tucker being worth $350 million. Ultimately, that is for the market and the Chicago Cubs to decide. Players are getting big time deals right now and assuming he is completely healthy, Tucker should be considered one of the top young hitters in all of baseball. Go get paid, king.

However, there is no world where the Astros would have given him that. Aside from the fact that it is a massive sum of money for any team to guarantee any single player, Astros owner Jim Crane is notorious for not wanting to hand out hefty long-term deals. If Houston wasn't willing to give Alex Bregman a $200 million deal, there is no way in hell they were going to offer Tucker anywhere close to what he is projected to get.

Of course, the result is quite painful. Astros fans had to watch one of Houston's best young players get shipped off with no guarantee that Paredes will replace his production in 2025 and definitely no assurance that Smith will reach his admittedly lofty ceiling. However, just because the process and result was painful doesn't mean that it wasn't the right thing to do.

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Eric Cole

Eric Cole

I started my career writing about baseball covering the Atlanta Braves for SB Nation's Talking Chop back in 2015 which has since been renamed Battery Power. After years of writing for those fine folks, I made the decision to take over as Site Expert at House That Hank Built before becoming a full-time MLB Staff Writer for FanSided in 2023. Along the way, I have been a guest on multiple ESPN radio affiliates as well as 680 The Fan and 92.9 The Game to discuss Braves baseball and especially Braves prospects and was a long-time host on the Battery Power podcast. These days, I continue to write about the Braves as well as covering the Astros, Padres, and Angels with particular expertise with minor league coverage, the MLB Draft, and bashing Anthony Rendon when possible. When I am not writing about or talking about baseball (which is seldom), I am an avid baseball card collector (Maddux and Soroka being my primary personal collections) and I also collect shark teeth. All other sports are mostly dead to me as my Bills have broken my heart too many times.