Kyle Tucker seems to not be satisfied with the Toronto Blue Jays offer

The holdup looks less like mystery and more like math. Bob Nightengale's read is that Tucker is waiting for Toronto to push the average annual value higher, not just add years.

That tracks with how this market is shaping up right now. Jeff Passan said on Sportsnet that the Blue Jays are the team willing to go as deep as 10 years, while the Mets have been linked to a short deal around $50 million per year.

Toronto can offer security, but security is not always the sweet spot for a star entering his prime. Tucker turns 29 before Opening Day 2026, and he was a first-round pick, fifth overall, by Houston back in 2015.

There's another layer that makes every extra AAV dollar sting. MLB Trade Rumors notes the Jays are already deep into the top luxury-tax tier, where additional spending gets hammered at a huge rate.

This is the part where you start refreshing your feed like it's a ninth inning at-bat. You can almost feel the front office trying to win without blinking first.

The Blue Jays certainly have a good chance since Tucker has made it clear his is looking for a long term deal which only the Blue Jays seem to be offering but they are also risking a lot by doing this.

Tucker is also not negotiating in a vacuum, because multiple teams can play the same leverage game. Passan's point was simple, once one club sets a high-AAV bar, others can jump in with their own short, loud offers.

From the Blue Jays side, the pitch is obvious, the lineup fit is clean and the window is right now. From Tucker's side, the question is whether long-term comfort is worth leaving peak AAV on the table.

So the «holdup» is really a choice between two kinds of winning. Toronto wants the long runway, Tucker may want the loudest yearly number.

While this could end up hurting the Blue Jays down the road towards the end of this big long-term deal with Tucker, they do not seem to considered, especially if they can find a way to capitalize off the next few years and win a World Series.