Dodgers’ First-Round Pick Sends Kyle Tucker Message As Concerns Mount

The Los Angeles Dodgers are laser focused on a third straight World Series championship, but they are setting some inadvertent records on the path to capture it.

This winter, the team set a historic mark with its $169 million luxury tax payment thanks to its monumental payroll. And it also set a record with its latest star addition, as new outfielder Kyle Tucker is set to receive $57.1 million in present-day average annual value (AAV), which broke the AAV record previously held by the New York Mets’ Juan Soto.

Though the Dodgers don’t seem to mind breaking financial records, the decision to add Tucker was a bit of a surprise. He is set to lift the team’s batting order and is a clear upgrade for the outfield, but another star bat was hardly a desperate need for the team.

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Plus, some concerns about Tucker’s low-key demeanor have been growing as he joins his new team.

“Kyle Tucker knows what’s being said about him,” Dylan Hernandez reported for the New York Post. “About how he lacks enthusiasm for baseball. About how he doesn’t have the heart to play through injuries. About how his $240-million contract was an overpay for a player with only one top-five finish in MVP voting.”

Those concerns are likely to persist into Tucker’s debut season with the Dodgers, though he could put them to rest if he remains healthy and effective while perhaps becoming more demonstrably passionate as the Dodgers push toward another World Series.

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But in the meantime, Tucker’s former teammate, who has some unique Dodgers history of his own, has responded to the controversy by sending a message of support.

“Tucker was a great teammate,” Chicago Cubs infielder Michael Busch said during an appearance on “Foul Territory.” “He was always out there, always working hard, always playing hard… He worked hard.”

Dodgers fans will remember Busch as a highly touted prospect within the organization, following the team’s decision to draft him in the first round in 2019. Busch made his debut with the Dodgers in 2023 and struggled at the plate in his first 27 games. But he was traded to the Cubs shortly after that and has emerged as a key young piece for the team as it looks to make a deeper postseason run.

With a unique perspective honed during his time with the Dodgers as well as his experience as a former teammate of Tucker’s, Busch has some authority to help dispel the idea that the superstar outfielder lacks a certain level of passion for the game.

But ultimately, the concerns around Tucker’s demeanor are likely to persist until he can emphatically dispel them himself.