Kyle Tucker completely falling apart with Dodgers validates Astros' free agency decisions

When the Houston Astros traded away Kyle Tucker two offseasons ago, it sparked outrage in the fanbase. Another homegrown star was leaving despite having just won the AL West for the fourth straight year and seven of the previous eight. Even though the team was knocked out without a win in the wild card round, they had won the World Series two seasons ago. It wasn't time to be getting rid of one of the team's best players.

Tucker had one season of team control remaining headed into the 24-25 offseason. Other Astros stars, like Carlos Correa and Alex Bregman, had been able to play out their entire rookie contracts and reach free agency, but general manager Dana Brown had decided he wanted more than just the draft pick compensation a rejected qualifying offer nets the teams for Tucker.

Tucker was then shipped to the Cubs for Isaac Paredes, Cam Smith, and Hayden Wesneski, a trade that has had ups-and-downs, but has mostly worked out pretty well for Houston to this point. Tucker spent all of 2025 on the north side of Chicago, where he posted a 4.5 bWAR, his lowest in a season where he played more than 130 games, won a Silver Slugger, but did not get MVP votes. The lefty's down season still led him to receive one of the most ludicrous contracts in MLB history: four years, $240 million with the Dodgers, a contract the Astros would never have come close to offering with their $160 million rule.

Dana Brown looks like a genius after seeing how bad Kyle Tucker has struggled with the Dodgers

The thing is, the Astros have already looked really smart for moving off of Tucker when they did. Despite some struggles, Cam Smith looks like a key piece in the making, Paredes has put up back-to-back really solid seasons, and Wesneski is a 28-year-old pitcher with control through 2029, and, to top it all off, Tucker has been a major flop in LA.  

The 29-year-old has been a major storyline all season because of how poor his play has been. Through 118 games this season, the $60 million-a-year man has basically been a replacement level player (0.1 bWAR), and last night, he popped up on the low-lights reel again.

Playing out in right field against the Colorado in the 7th inning, Rockies' Connor Norby hit a lazy, routine fly to shallow right field. Tucker got himself underneath it and just botched it. It didn't affect the outcome of the game, the Dodgers were already up 10-1, but it's just another moment that validates Houston's decision.

Houston could have tried to work something out with Tucker in the 2024 offseason he was traded, or kept him and at least played the season out. He was one of the team's stars, and part of a core that won a World Series and had been to ALCS four times. Alex Bregman was already a free agent that offseason, it would have been very easy to keep Tucker to not let the core fall apart so fast. Brown didn't, though, and Tucker's struggles with the Dodgers are only making the decision he made look a lot better.

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