January 7 feels like an appropriate time to take down the Christmas lights, right? That’s plenty of spillover time …
There are vague rumors and mentions out there this week, as there have been for the last month, but there still isn’t really a lot of HEAT on Kyle Tucker. The obvious top free agent this offseason is probably getting plenty of interest behind the scenes, but there aren’t a lot of very pointed leaks. Even the teams most connected to him – the Blue Jays, the Dodgers, the Mets(?) – have generally been described as hanging around, seeing what’s what, and seeing what might happen. It doesn’t feel like that 10-year, $400 million deal is out there, which makes sense to me given the injury issues in 2024 and 2025, together with the performance-impacted stretches from this past season (and the defensive fall-off, which probably goes under-discussed). I think Matt actually sums up what might be the market concerns pretty well:I think there are a few concerns (and I've had some myself). He doesn't really come across as a psycho competitor and is more of a guy in the background, when talking the kind of player an organization tends to want to give a mega contract/make face of the franchise. (cont)
— Matt Clapp (@TheBlogfines) January 7, 2026And a lot of value he has accrued in his career has come from good RF defense that is diminishing and as a baserunner, with athleticism that will continue to decline. He's an **elite** hitter when right, but there are just some red flags in terms of handing $300+ million.
— Matt Clapp (@TheBlogfines) January 7, 2026 Tucker will ultimately get a very, very good deal somewhere. I don’t believe he’s going to have to settle for a pillow contract or anything quite like that. But I also think that the combination of Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s extension and Tucker’s absurdly hot start last year led to people thinking a truly bonkers contract was going to happen. It probably won’t. Also: no, I still don’t see the Cubs making a serious effort to re-sign Kyle Tucker. Yes, he will sign before midseason so the Cubs will get a draft pick. It won’t be one of THOSE situations. More on the suddenly-aggressive-ish Pirates, Marlins, and A’s, ahead of the CBA negotiations:Several small-market teams are suddenly spending all at once, and @Ken_Rosenthal believes it's CBA-related."Maybe these teams have been at least nudged in a direction where MLB is like, we're not going to be able to make a strong case when you're pulling this." pic.twitter.com/hu070Yt87y
— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) January 6, 2026 I was looking at more players in Japan and Korea from this past season – just continuing to get a sense of what the various performances can look like – and I happened upon an old friend. I remembered that former Cubs pitching prospect Riley Thompson was going to Korea, but I had completely forgotten to check in to see how his first year went. Quite well, it turns out! The now 29-year-old righty posted a 3.45 ERA (3.32 FIP) over 172.0 innings, with a 30.5% K rate(!) and a 7.9% BB rate(!). The overall performance was about 25% better than league average, and was a dramatic improvement on what he showed at Triple-A in 2024 and 2023 (not that the leagues are exactly equivalent, but close enough to get some context when a guy struggles as badly as Thompson did). I’m suddenly mildly surprised that he hasn’t been discussed anywhere as a possible return candidate. I doubt he would get a big league deal, given the recent struggles at Triple-A, but the performance in the KBO was so strong that I definitely wonder if he was one of those guys who figured something out with the opportunity to pitch against a different type of hitter, working with different coaches, and with such a dramatic life change. We’ve seen it many times before. Then again, if the domestic interest is only on a minor league deal, maybe Thompson can simply make more money staying in Korea another year, and show another step forward. Or maybe even try to go to Japan. As we get more and more data from game action, we get more and more enjoyable deep dives into increasingly esoteric questions. For example, while it is intuitive that standing deeper in the box will generally allow for more contact (more reaction time), the same is not necessarily true for standing closer to the plate. Davy Andrews dug in on the latter at FanGraphs, and found a weak – but existent! – correlation between proximity to the dish and pure contact rate. Interestingly, this isn’t because some guys are standing so far away from the plate that they literally cannot reach the outside corner, thus driving down the contact rate. Everyone can reach some degree outside. Nor is it because the guys who tend to stand further back also tend to be higher whiffers (think big dudes with long arms and hard swings). We know this because Andrews compared only hitters against themselves when they move at least an inch in the box. So, in sum, it’s at least plausible that if you wanted to increase your contact rate – in isolation! – you could move a little further back in the box AND ALSO a little closer to the plate. It seems there is still a great deal of uncertainty for players and prospects in Venezuela about what comes next:Amid the turmoil, The Athletic conducted an exclusive interview with Venezuelan catcher Jesús Rodríguez, one of the San Francisco Giants’ top prospects.Full story: t.co/bC5DD5jiLi
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) January 7, 2026 Hopefully their teams or the league or the State Department can provide a sense of logistics and timeline soon, and, by next month, guys will be able to come to the United States for Spring Training without any issues. At least flight restrictions have been lifted, so that’s a good sign. More on the potential renewed RSN issues for a number of MLB teams (including the Cardinals, Reds, and Brewers):New from @EvanDrellich and @katiejwoo: Nine MLB teams’ TV money in jeopardy as FanDuel networks continue to struggle: t.co/s3TVgK5pNJ
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) January 7, 2026 Neither Moises Ballesteros nor Owen Caissie (nor, obviously, Jaxon Wiggins) even got a single stray vote here:From prospects who already reached the big leagues to ones who haven't even touched Triple-A, our poll of NL ROY candidates features a bevy of intriguing names.Here's what front office execs had to say: t.co/JvBpKzPitC pic.twitter.com/A8tpGgjIC3
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) January 6, 2026 This is a little funny:The A’s are moving to Las Vegas, but two attempts to register “Las Vegas Athletics” have been denied."It’s a weird result.” trademark attorney Josh Gerben tells FOS. t.co/4OZ6PNVuDg
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) January 6, 2026 The problem is that the word “athletics” can refer to all kinds of things, and if you’re trying to make it your own, protectable, intellectual property, there has to be some kind of super distinct, special thing about “Las Vegas Athletics” where consumers have come to associate that phrase with something specific, rather than just a descriptive phrase … but right now, it’s not possible. That entity doesn’t even exist! If the organization got this trademark, then any ‘ole athletic training center or equipment supplier or whatever might find themselves in violation because they use that word and the city in which they’ve operated for years. That would be wildly unfair, so I actually get this outcome. Maybe after the A’s actually play in Las Vegas for a few years, then they can claim the “Las Vegas Athletics” have become a distinctive, clearly-associated name/entity in the minds of consumers. Pitchers and catchers will report to Spring Training in just over a month, but obviously many guys are already out in Arizona getting their work in:Spring Training ‘26 right around the corner!! Time to get rockin. pic.twitter.com/LO0OsEWIGg
— Jameson Taillon (@JTaillon50) January 6, 2026 Ah, Matt Murton: MORE CUBS FROM BLEACHER NATION: Go Ad Free | Subscribe to the BN NewsletterMotivated Connor Bedard Close to Return #blackhawks t.co/DwHnBLWAwW
— Bleacher Nation Blackhawks (@BN_Blackhawks) January 6, 2026No QB Ran It Faster Than Caleb Williams in 2025 t.co/0ZZiO7BXPr
— Bleacher Nation Bears (@BN_Bears) January 6, 2026Bulls Signing Yuki Kawamura, Waiving Trentyn Flowers t.co/d8R48FPbif
— Bleacher Nation Bulls (@BN_Bulls) January 6, 2026Hence then, the article about the quiet tucker market old friend overseas athletics mark and other cubs bullets was published today ( ) and is available on Bleacher Nation ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
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