Kyle Tucker breaks silence on why he chose the Los Angeles Dodgers over the Toronto Blue Jays
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Victor William
Jan 22, 2026 (1:58 PM)
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Photo credit: MLB TV
The Toronto Blue Jays once again missed out on the top free agent as Kyle Tucker signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers in which he recently explained his reasoning.
Toronto went big for Tucker, and still came up empty, which is a sentence Jays fans have read too often lately. Reports pegged the Blue Jays' pitch as a long-term monster, but the finish line never showed up.
On Wednesday, Tucker basically told everyone why, without naming Toronto at all.
He praised the Dodgers as «first class» from ownership to the front office, and he pointed straight at the fan base and a championship-ready roster.
«I mean, there's a lot of great ball clubs out there with great teams, and they all have unique things that make them great. But, like I said, I think this organization from the top down is first class, and the team that these guys put together and assembled to give a great product for the fan base in the city to go out there and compete for a championship kind of speaks for itself." Tucker
That is the part Jays fans should take seriously, because it wasn't a tax joke or a travel complaint. It was the simplest free agent answer there is, he wanted the surest path to a ring.
The Dodgers backed that with a four-year, $240 million deal that lets Tucker control his future with opt-outs after his second and third seasons.
Toronto can offer length, but LA can sell a winning machine right now.
Kyle Tucker picked Los Angeles Dodgers over Toronto Blue Jays
I hate admitting it, but the Dodgers pitch is basically unfair when they are already stacked.
Tucker is 29, a former fifth overall pick by Houston in 2015, and the skill set is clean. Last season he put up 500 at-bats, hit .266, popped 22 homers, drove in 73, stole 25 bags, and posted an .841 OPS.
That bat would have fit perfectly in Toronto's middle, especially after the winter churn around Bo Bichette and the infield.
The Blue Jays have money and momentum, but they still need that one lineup piece who scares pitchers in October.
My view is Toronto didn't lose because it was timid, it lost because the Dodgers can promise a baseball life that feels stable and loud. The Jays have to keep building an identity that elite players believe in before they ever land at Pearson.
Toronto now needs a real Plan B bat that wins games in April, not just headlines in January.
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JANVIER 22 | 300 ANSWERS Kyle Tucker breaks silence on why he chose the Los Angeles Dodgers over the Toronto Blue Jays Did Kyle Tucker's explanation make the Toronto Blue Jays miss feel worse? | ||