Kyle Tucker is going to be rolling in dough in Los Angeles.
Tucker, who turns 29 on Saturday, signed a four-year deal worth $240 million with the Dodgers on Thursday, noti.group’s Jon Heyman confirmed.
The contract, which comes out at $60 million per season, is set to be the largest average annual value in MLB history — excluding his teammate Shohei Ohtani’s $70 million-per-year deal, 97.1 percent of which is deferred from 2034-43.
Similar to Ohtani, Tucker’s deal is expected to have $30 million in deferrals, which puts the net present value of his contract at $57 million per season, breaking Juan Soto’s deal with the Mets by $6 million.
Soto is raking in $51 million a season until 2039 — if he chooses not opt out in 2030.
The Mets’ previous deals with future Hall of Fame pitchers Max Scherzer ($43.33 million) and Justin Verlander ($43.35 million) rank as the fourth- and fifth-largest AAV contracts of all time, respectively.
Ex-Met Zack Wheeler follows Verlander with $42 million per year after signing a three-year, $126 million contract with the Phillies last offseason.
Aaron Judge’s nine-year, $360 million contract with the Yankees comes in at $40 million per season, the most in Yankees history, and ranks seventh of all time.
Following their acquisition of Tucker, the Dodgers are now on the hook for a whopping $2.11 billion of guaranteed salary from 2026-47, according to Spotrac.
Ahead of Tucker’s signing, the Dodgers were projected to have a luxury tax payroll approaching $350 million, according to Cot’s Contracts’ estimates.
Tucker’s deal also has implications of a potential lockout ahead of the 2027 season, as owners are expected to push for a salary cap.
Commissioner Rob Manfred was mum when discussing the upcoming labor negotiations, putting the ball in MLB Players Association director Tony Clark’s court.
“That’s a Tony Clark question, I mean, it really is,” Manfred said during an appearance on WFAN last week. “Until I got elected commissioner, all I did was labor relations. That’s how I made my living. I’ve never been in a negotiation where, before the first piece of paper went across the table, I, or anyone I represented, was out there saying, ‘This, we absolutely will not talk about.’
“I just think it’s a hard way to begin a negotiation.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
