{"id":112258,"date":"2026-01-16T00:26:31","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T05:26:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=112258"},"modified":"2026-01-16T00:26:31","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T05:26:31","slug":"whats-next-for-the-mets-after-missing-on-tucker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2026\/01\/16\/whats-next-for-the-mets-after-missing-on-tucker\/","title":{"rendered":"Whats Next for the Mets after missing on Tucker?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We finally have a resolution as to where superstar free agent <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/t\/tuckeky01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kyle Tucker<\/a> will play in 2026 &#8212; and potentially beyond.\u00a0 Tucker and the back-to-back World Series winners Los Angeles Dodgers are in agreement on a <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2026\/01\/15\/report-dodgers-sign-all-star-outfielder-kyle-tucker\/\" target=\"_self\">four-year, $240 million deal. <\/a>The deal was first reported by ESPN&#8217;s Jeff Passan. First on terms was Robert Murray of FanSided.<\/p>\n<p>The deal includes opt-outs after years two and three with $30 million worth of deferrals. Tucker gets a $64 million signing bonus with $54 million payed up front, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post. The net present value of Tucker&#8217;s deal beats out Juan Soto&#8217;s previous record by more than $6 million.<\/p>\n<p>With that being said, that now begs the question, what comes next for the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2026\/01\/11\/mets-dodgers-jays-reportedly-met-with-kyle-tucker\/\" target=\"_self\">Mets<\/a> after their failed pursuit of the consensus No. 1 free agent Kyle Tucker?<\/p>\n<p>Whats Next for the Mets after missing on Tucker?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Free-agent outfielder Kyle Tucker and the Los Angeles Dodgers are in agreement on a four-year, $240 million contract, according to sources familiar with the deal. It includes an opt out after year two.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Robert Murray (@ByRobertMurray) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ByRobertMurray\/status\/2011997625541664918?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">January 16, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>What Comes Next<\/h2>\n<p>The Mets upped their second offer of four-years and $200 million, to four-years and $220 million, a league source confirmed to Sirius XM and SNY&#8217;s Jim Duquette. You do the math and that totals out to a $55 million annual average value (AAV). <span>Now having lost out on Tucker; the club can relocate that money elsewhere.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A MLB source confirmed the Mets offer was 4 years at $220 million <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/2BpMNYwTzI\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/2BpMNYwTzI<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Jim Duquette (@JimDuquetteGM) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JimDuquetteGM\/status\/2012011945071956073?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">January 16, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Whether they pivot to <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bellico01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cody Bellinger<\/a>, the next best outfielder on the market, or allocate their resources to starting pitching remains to be seen. The Mets are said to be content on rolling out an outfield trio of would-be rookie <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/register\/player.fcgi?id=benge-000car\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Carson Benge<\/a>, <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/t\/tayloty01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tyrone Taylor<\/a>, and <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/s\/sotoju01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Juan Soto<\/a> come Opening Day. That would likely be worst case scenario.<\/p>\n<p><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/p\/peralfr01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Freddy Peralta<\/a> and <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/g\/gorema01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">MacKenzie Gore<\/a> remain the top arms available on the trade front. <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/v\/valdefr01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Framber Valdez<\/a> and New Jersey native <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/g\/galleza01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Zac Gallen<\/a> lead the pack in free agency.<\/p>\n<h2>Top League Content<\/h2>\n<p>The Mets did recently speak to the Washington Nationals on Gore, though nothing has materialized since. They discussed a trade for then available starter Edward Cabrera. Talks centered around infielders <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/b\/batybr01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Brett Baty<\/a> and Mets No. 7-ranked prospect <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/register\/player.fcgi?id=ewing-000aj-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">A.J. Ewing<\/a>, before the Marlins shipped him away to Chicago.<\/p>\n<p>If Bellinger doesn&#8217;t wind up in Queens, <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/b\/baderha01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Harrison Bader<\/a> is another option that could emerge. Though despite an impressive cameo with the Phillies last year, their isn&#8217;t much reason to believe the Mets would want to run things back with the 1x gold glover. Bader played for the Mets in 2024, splitting time with Taylor in center field.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;What we\u2019ve done previously has not been good enough,\u201d president of baseball operations David Stearns said Tuesday at Citi Field in his first public comments since the Winter Meetings. \u201cWe have to do better, and we\u2019re committed to doing that.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Top Image Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We finally have a resolution as to where superstar free agent Kyle Tucker will play in 2026 &#8212; and potentially beyond.\u00a0 Tucker and the back-to-back World Series winners Los Angeles Dodgers are in agreement on a four-year, $240 million deal. The deal was first reported by ESPN&#8217;s Jeff Passan. First on terms was Robert Murray [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5706,"featured_media":112299,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[22,1071],"tags":[164],"class_list":["post-112258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mets","category-mlb","tag-new-york-mets"],"modified_by":"Matthew Nethercott, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5706"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112258"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112258\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":112300,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112258\/revisions\/112300"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}