Philadelphia Phillies Made Huge Mistake Not Aggressively Pursuing Kyle Tucker Trade

The Philadelphia Phillies didn't aggressively go after Kyle Tucker this offseason, and that is already looking like a massive mistake.

Apr 18, 2025; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago Cubs outfielder Kyle Tucker (30) rounds the bases after hitting a two-run home run against the Arizona Diamondbacks during the eighth inning at Wrigley Field / Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

Everyone knew the Philadelphia Phillies had problems in the outfield.

Johan Rojas hasn't developed into an everyday productive hitter like they had hoped, Nick Castellanos is a streaky hitter who can go ice-cold in the worst moments and Brandon Marsh has major struggles against left-handed pitching.

Outside of the bullpen, this unit was clearly the weakest on the team.

But the Phillies didn't address it this offseason.

While handing Juan Soto the record-setting deal that he eventually inked with the New York Mets was nothing but a pipedream, Dave Dombrowski had ample opportunity to make other moves that would have shored up the outfield before the most important year of this current group's existence.

The most glaring one was trading for Kyle Tucker.

When it was revealed that he was being shopped by the Houston Astros, it was assumed that Philadelphia would jump into the mix.

Tucker is a bonafide superstar in this league, and he would have solved a lot of problems for the Phillies when it came to both offense and defense.

But Dombrowski didn't aggressively pursue a deal, and instead of pulling off what would have been the move of the offseason around Major League Baseball, he sat back and watched the Chicago Cubs acquire the mega-talent.

This has proven to be a disastrous decision already.

He has immediately stepped in and become the Cubs' best player, turning an offense that had been middling for the last couple of years into one of the best in the sport.

Tucker is slashing .320/.420/.650 with seven homers and 25 RBI across his 25 games, sitting tied for sixth in MLB when it comes to the longball and tied for first in producing runs.

Meanwhile, Castellanos is slashing .276/.333/.448 with three home runs and 14 RBI, one of the most productive hitters on the team. But offseason addition Max Kepler has a slash line of .240/.337/.360 with a homer and four RBI. Rojas is slashing .316/.366/.368 in a limited sample size and Marsh had a slash line of .095/.220/.167 before going on the injured list.

In total, Tucker has hit more home runs (seven) than the rest of the Phillies outfielders combined (five), and has produced two less RBI (25) than all four regulars have, as well (27).

What makes things even more frustrating is the package Chicago gave up to get him.

They traded established big league third baseman Isaac Paredes, swingman pitcher Hayden Wesneski and star prospect Cam Smith.

While Smith became a headliner during the spring based on his performance and ultimately played his way onto the Major League roster while skipping Triple-A altogether, he was not regarded as one of the very best prospects in the Cubs' farm system at the time.

Could Philadelphia have landed Tucker with a trade package like Alec Bohm, former top prospect Mick Abel and current top 10 guy Gabriel Rincones Jr.?

Maybe they would have needed to give up more to get something done, but that's not far off from what Chicago traded.

Either way, the decision was made to not go after Tucker, despite him still being in arbitration that resulted in a $16.5 million salary for the 2025 season compared to the $10 million Kepler received.

The Phillies should have been aggressive and acquired Tucker.

Dombrowski's decision not to is already coming back to haunt the team.

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