Kyle Tucker has not played well enough this season for the Los Angeles Dodgers to count on him walking away from his contract. With a 110 wRC+ over more than 200 plate appearances, he is carrying the lowest mark on the roster among Dodgers with that much run, and the club has to plan as if he will still be there beyond this year.
That matters because Tucker’s deal is built around huge money and delayed choices. It carries a record $57.1 million present-value AAV and $60 million player options in 2028 and 2029, but the Dodgers cannot build a roster around the hope that he will opt out. The safer assumption is the opposite: he stays, at least for the near term, and the payroll picture has to fit around that reality now.
The timing is what makes the issue so sharp. Tucker came into the season with a career 138 wRC+, the track record of a corner bat who should be doing far more than a 110 mark suggests. That gap between pedigree and production is what keeps the contract from looking simple. It is also why the Dodgers are being forced to think about three more years beyond this one instead of treating the options as automatic escape hatches.
The roster squeeze is real. Andy Pages now owns center field with Tucker in right, while Teoscar Hernandez is signed through 2027 and still likely has trade value. Shohei Ohtani also limits how much time can be spent sorting things out at designated hitter. Put all of that together and the outfield is crowded even before the Dodgers add any future prospects into the mix.
That is the friction inside the plan: Tucker has the contract structure of a star, but his play this season has not matched that level, and the Dodgers cannot act as if the most expensive exit ramp in the deal is going to open for them. They need to plan for a player with a big salary footprint and an uncertain fit in a crowded outfield, not for a clean reset that may never come.
If Tucker turns his season around, the math changes. If he does not, the Dodgers will still have to carry the consequences of a deal that reaches into 2028 and 2029, with no guarantee that the player on the field will justify the payroll room he occupies.
