New York – With a sparkling view of the city roofs and Lake Michigan, it looked like an image that the Chicago Cubs include in a recruitment presentation. Standing under the sun, Kyle Tucker posed on a boat with a group of teammates and workers from Wrigley Field Clubhouse. The stars voltiseur published the photo on its Instagram account, the social media version of launching from the water.
This kind of reaction was not the intention of Tucker, but cubs fans are looking for signs about his future. Whether they are cautiously optimistic or deeply skeptical, they want to know if this large market franchise is ready to pay the n ° 1 player planned in the next free agent class. Tucker offers no clues to his preferences, letting his game speak.
“I’m going to see comments from time to time,” said Tucker. “I am sure that some people have probably overwhelmed and read between the lines much more than others, compared to a” team boat day “is fun.
Tucker credited Justin Turner for organizing the exit of June 30, which was open to all players, their families and the clubhouse staff. Win always help the team’s chemistry, but the cubs are a united group, the reflection of a discreet superstar that has just arrived here and does not know where it will be next year.
The countdown started last December when Jed Hoyer’s front office acquired Tucker in an exchange of victories with the Astros of Houston. The agreement concluded only a few days after Juan Soto accepted his record contract, $ 1565 million with New York dishes. The megadéal approved by the owner of the dishes, Steve Cohen, illustrated in a living way the increase in the cost of business.
Shortly after the opening day, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. signed a contract extension of $ 500 million over 14 years with the Blue Jays de Toronto, giving up a free agency this off -season and clearing a path to Tucker, who could soon be at the center of an auction war.
“I don’t necessarily worry too much,” said Tucker. “If something is happening, something is happening. The only thing I can really control is to go out and do my best, set up figures and try to help us win games.
“In my eyes, as long as I try to do this, and do my part by helping us win, I have the impression that everything else happens. I can’t really control something that is not under my control or try to manipulate something or force something. ”
Tucker is a left -handed striker who leaves the game to him, understanding how the launchers try to put him in place and get him out. Little things count to Tucker, a defender of the gold gloves and a more basketunner who participated in 15 playoffs with the astros. Instead of presenting himself as an individual society, Tucker wants to be one of the boys.
“It was just a funny day,” said Tucker. “We said to ourselves:” We should be a boat day every day. “
A 28-year-old voltiseur with a gold glove, a silver hitter and several All-Star game nominations with his name, Kyle Tucker believes that she is a most coveted free agent this winter. (Geoff Stellfox / Getty Images)
Standing 6 feet 4 inches and carrying a framework for 220 pounds, Tucker approaches marble with a feeling of calm, more like someone who has just come out of bed than one of the most dangerous sluggers in sport.
It is not entirely slow, but Tucker’s ways and consistency give off a certain atmosphere. In many ways, it is an ideal personality for a big striker. Closing at this level requires a capacity to focus carefully on each height, then try to forget what has just happened.
Everything is so smooth.
“Kyle has a way to make the game easy,” said Cubs Manager Craig Counsell. “No one else will say it’s easy, and Kyle will not say that it’s easy. But when you look at Kyle in the box, he just has that way of doing what many people think it’s the most difficult thing in sport that sometimes seems easy.
“Sometimes it is frustrating to monitor strikers, honestly. But I also think that your approach in presence is a very good lesson for all our strikers.”
Tucker gives the example by following his routine without saying others what to do. At a time when the staff of major leagues coaches are larger than ever, and so many aspects of the game can be measured, Tucker likes to feel.
He learned by looking at all these strikers accomplished in Houston and seeing everything you needed to win the World Series 2022. He has already accumulated 418 appearances in plaques this season and played in 94 games on 95. He knows what he must do to empty his mind and feel loose.
This could mean 10 swings on a t-shirt and 15 flips rather than the first towers of the stick in the stick, the typing program before the usual match and the additional sessions in the striker. As the Cubs have learned in recent years, having your process is great, but it must obtain results.
“I don’t necessarily want to get out of a good swing,” said Tucker. “With anything, you can get to a point where you start to think too much about things. Or you can start feeling something different and you start too much.
“For the most part, it’s like saying:” Quality on quantity “.”
Even around team officials, Tucker can appear as a little reserved, but always very pleasant. He has the same relaxed behavior and a sense of dry humor during interviews with journalists. But if you could look in the dining room of the clubhouse after a match, you would see Tucker at a table surrounded by teammates.
“Taking the courtyard,” said Cubs launcher Matthew Boyd.
This dynamic was still hoped for, but not necessarily guaranteed when the Cubs exchanged a potential recruit of the year (Cam Smith), a third goal player in the stars (Isaac Paredes) and a major league launcher (Hayden Wesneski, who is now recovering from Tommy John Plegery). By abandoning 14 potential years of club control over these players, the Cubs have obtained a season to maximize Tucker’s talents and make their land.
Cubs will enter the last day before the stars break in first place. After the Sunday afternoon match at Yankee Stadium, Tucker, Boyd and Pete Crow-Armstrong will go to Atlanta for the festivities of Stars Week. The Cubs will not dominate the event as the future champions of the World Series did in 2016 – and the club recently experienced lulls – but the intersaison plan meets with a mixture of experienced players and young talents.
Tucker’s hot start has helped give Crow-Armstrong more space to develop offensively near the range. Looking at the rhythm of Tucker’s bats, Seiya Suzuki recognized how to be more aggressive.
Boyd, who launched eight-sleeves aimlessly in the 5-2 of Saturday victory against New York Yankees, brought the rotation in the absence of several starting launchers and did not put in the game of stars so that he can preserve the force for the second half. All these elements of the club are connected. Until now, in their worst full month, the cubs have gone 13-13 in June.
“What is special in Tuck is that he improves everyone,” said Boyd. “By the way, he behaves, by the way he goes to his occupations, there is something to have a guy who has no panic, no worries, at least outside. This brings a lot of calm and to resolve a team on a day and day base. It’s really special. “
There was no excuse for Tucker, no period of prolonged adjustment after spending his entire career in an organization. The brutal strike conditions at Wrigley Field earlier this season did not go into his head. Even when he is not the star of the game – Crow -Armstrong has delivered so many moments of survey – Tucker always does things to help cubs win a series and maintain momentum.
Figures at all levels – an average of the stick of .282, 17 circuits, 22 stolen bases, 56 products produced, 68 points marked, a basic percentage of .384 and an OPS of 0.887 – indicate a player who seems immunized against the pressure of the contract.
Kyle Tucker can have an impact on a game with more than its bat. (AP photo / Erin Hooley)
“I don’t really know what affects him in general,” said the Cubs stop-to-turn, Swanson. “He goes up right there and takes care of business every day. There is also something to say about personality and confidence – Assimilate is not the right word – but being able to integrate into a team and wants to be part of the team and want to be part of something bigger than you.
“This shows you what it is in general. New team – and there is obviously the possibility that it is only a year with a team – but that does not change the way it goes in any of his belongings.”
For both parties, it is probably the most logical to see what the market will support for an elite player who will be 29 years old next year.
“Not really,” said Tucker when he was asked if his reflection on the Libre agency has evolved since he was exchanged at Cubs seven months ago. But the implementation of the greatest contract in the history of the franchise would always require an act of faith.
The Chicago baseball operations department has checked the huge value of Tucker and confirmed its easy way to live in the clubhouse. The Ricketts Family Ownership Group and the commercial side of the organization see the crowds reconstituted at Wrigley Field. For the moment, the main thing is that Tucker has fun playing for a team which, according to him, can win the World Series this year.
“I’m not going to let a contract or money dictating what I do on the ground,” said Tucker. “I’m going to go and play, steal bases, and land and everything else, no matter that. I just do what I can there. And the rest will take care of himself. ”
(Top Photo: Tim Warner / Getty Images)
