“Between that trade and their nine-figure investments in each of Jung Hoo Lee, Matt Chapman and Willy Adames over the past few years, San Francisco has made it clear that playing 81 games per season in a pitcher’s park isn’t going to prevent it from investing heavily in hitting,” Miller wrote.
“And despite those four big contracts and the combined $48 million due to Logan Webb and Robbie Ray in 2026, the Giants surprisingly have quite a bit of room to make some noise this winter.”
Tucker entered a big slump about halfway into the season, which could end up helping the Giants in their case of signing him because he may be slightly cheaper than he would have been if he had hit 30+ home runs.
Nonetheless, Tucker ended his 2025 season with 133 hits, 22 home runs, and 73 runs driven in. Furthermore, his accolades speak for themself. He’s a four-time All-Star, Gold Glove and Silver Slugger winner, and helped the Houston Astros win the 2022 World Series.
Why the Giants Make Sense for Kyle Tucker?
This isn’t to say the Cubs can’t make a late run for Tucker once the free agency period opens, but it’s expected that they won’t open up the checkbook to make him a monster offer. However, the Giants are still significantly under the luxury tax heading into the 2026 season, and have the room on their payroll to make either one huge signing like this or a couple of smaller signings that are still impactful.
The Giants have gone after many of MLB’s top free agents over the last few years, including Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Aaron Judge. However, they have been unsuccessful in landing that major star in the free agent market. However, that isn’t stopping them from trying again. Tucker is also in the realm of those names, and it would not be surprising to see the Giants go after the veteran outfielder.
San Francisco are also desperate to compete in the NL West. As a result, it can be assumed that the Giants will do whatever it takes to have a more competitive 2026 season under Buster Posey’s new front office leadership.