According to reports, Kyle Tucker and the Los Angeles
Dodgers are in agreement on a monster 4-year,$240
million deal. John, we appreciate you joining us
. What's your reaction? Well, I mean,
you can't be overly surprised. The Dodgers seem to
win almost everything they enter. So, uh,
from that perspective, not a shock, but certainly
, we knew the Mets were aggressive. We knew
their offer was out there at 200 for 4 years
. And, uh, the Dodgers, uh,
you know, they're irresistible for team, for players
right now. Uh, they've won the World Series
the last 2 years, 3 out of 6,
and the guys who wanna win, go to the
Dodgers and uh They get who they want and they
obviously wanted uh Kyle Tucker, uh, and badly
4 years, 240 million, there will be some
deferred here the exact figure on that, but we
know where the Mets were offering 50 million a year
, um, so the Dodgers obviously made an offer
that was competitive. Uh, it looks more like
more right now, but it is an outstanding,
uh, deal for Kyle Tucker, no question about
that, yeah. John, you briefly touched on
some of the financials. What can you tell us
about the, in addition to, to the terms
that we can read on the screen, what more
can you tell us about how this deal and the
framework looks like to your, uh, to your
reporting? Right. Well, he is an opt-out
after the 2nd and 3rd year as well. So
, I mean, uh, a lot of bells
and whistles here. It's, uh, a very
good deal, uh, for a player who,
you know, obviously he's been talking to the Toronto
Blue Jays, a very attractive. Team that obviously
just lost the World Series to the Dodgers, and
it's gotten much better now with Dylan Sea and all
the uh additions that they have made. Uh,
he's been talking to them since, uh, he
could really since early November. And, uh,
obviously, just weren't able to get it done for
whatever reason, whether he just preferred to go to
the Dodgers, preferred to go to LA, stay
in the country, whatever the reason, uh,
you know, Toronto's offers have been out. There
for months. So, uh, obviously he was
looking around and he found exactly what he wanted now
to do this deal. Now, now, obviously
, uh, the predictions were for long deals,
some$400 million 350 million dollars early, but I
mean, with two opt-outs, uh, a 4-year
,$240 million dollar deal, even with deferrals,
I mean, obviously this gives him a lot of
options. He's gonna end up making that amount of
money anyway, but, uh, uh, he
just doesn't have it at the moment. You know
, the reason we're sitting here today, um,
is that whenever you're gonna make a significant commitment in
years and dollars to a player, you have to
feel great about the person, about the human that
you're investing in, and I couldn't feel better,
uh, about that with Alex, um. People
that have spent time around Alex know that he is
, you know, obsessed with hitting, um,
obsessed with winning, um, and if that focus
was entirely on just Alex's performance, that would be
impressive, but I think where Alex takes it to
another level, uh, is his focus on his
teammates and his focus on the organization and how we
can all do things the right way, you know
, towards winning. I'm a. Winning baseball player
and focused on winning and and talking with Jed and
. Um, Carter, throughout this process, I
I know that the Cubs organization is focused on winning
and um I'm looking forward to doing that and winning
a championship here. We talked about all the players
in the clubhouse and how focused on winning they are
, um, just a good group of guys,
uh, combination of veteran players and young players and
um guys that want to win, uh, guys
that are pulling on the same end of the rope
when it comes to leadership, I feel like.
You need to find out what makes people tick,
what makes people, um, get the best out
of themselves and, um, hold them accountable to
it every day. So did you talk to Nico
Horner about number 2, and is that somebody you're
looking forward to playing with? I'm definitely looking forward
to it. Um, no, I didn't talk
to him. I just, I wore number 3
because I wanted the 3rd championship. And, and
actually another thing, he came to my office yesterday
and. He said, Hey, I hope you're
OK. I committed to the WBC, you know
, to play, uh, in May. I
hope you're OK with that. And I was like
, you know, sure, of course. He's
like, Don't worry, I'll, I'll come in
in the morning before we have workouts and make sure
I'm with the guys. And so, um,
it isn't just, uh, it's in 4 or
5 days he's been a cub. Like there's already
been like, you know, countless examples of things
he's working on that no one's asked him to do
, but like that's how he thinks about his role
. It's not just about. Getting his workouts in
, it's about making sure he's integrated with the entire
team. Clayton Kershaw has signed up to pitch for
the red, white, and blue, not ready
to hang up the spikes just yet. Oh man
, what a great story this is and what a
great kind of run this will be for Clayton,
uh, winning another World Series and then. Getting
right back into the fray with a team of all-time
all-stars. We are pleased to have Clayton on the
stove with us today. Hey man, great to
see you. Congratulations on, first of all,
everything, and secondly, this is awesome news that
you're gonna pitch for Team USA. Oh, I'm
so excited. It's gonna be so fun. Um
, yeah, thanks for having me guys. I
think, uh, just when Dro approached me about
being a part of this team, and I,
I wanted to do it a few years ago,
but I was too broken for the insurance to cover
my, uh, to cover my arm and everything
, so now that it doesn't matter and I get
to go and be a part of this group,
like you said, is, uh, just the
most unbelievable group of teammates and guys, and so
I'm uh I'm just really. Excited, man.
It's gonna be so fun, you know, I
learned a long time ago you just wanna be a
part of great things and, uh, this team
seems like a really fun, awesome group, and
, um, all these coaches I played with are
good teammates, good friends of mine, so it'll
be, uh, it'll be really fun. That's
, that's really cool. When did it cross your
mind when you finished and you were retired and you
got back home and, and all of a sudden
there's a WBC coming? When did it cross your
mind, hey, maybe, you know, I'm
. Might be able to do this. Well,
Daro Daro called me and said, uh, and
uh I missed his call and said, call me
back to WBC and, um, I thought he
wanted me to like coach. And so I was
like, oh, yeah, I'd love to,
love to go coach or just help out or do
whatever. And then, and then he mentioned playing
again, and, uh, I'm gonna be honest
, I didn't have a whole lot of interest in
picking up a baseball again, but, uh,
I started throwing, you know, 10. 12
days ago and it doesn't feel terrible, so I
think, I think I'll be OK. I think
I'll be OK, you know, as happy as
you are to be doing this, I'm sure that
group of pitchers that we just put up is absolutely
thrilled to have you not only on the staff but
as a resource to tap into your brain a little
bit. What a squad this is and as I
start thinking about potential matchups, Clayton, and I'm
sure this has crossed your mind too, um.
Thinking of you facing Shohei is something that we can
dream about. Is that out of the question?
I think something will have gone terribly wrong if I
have to pitch against Team Japan in the finals or
something. I think we got plenty of guys to
get that guy out and not me, but uh
, um, if that happens, um, I'm
, I'll be nervous. I'll be nervous at this
point. You know, I'm just, I'm looking
forward to putting the pinstripes on. Um, it's
an incredible honor when an organization of this caliber,
you know, wants me to pitch for them.
It's an unbelievable honor. My job is to throw
the baseball and they give it to me, um
, in whatever capacity that is for however long it
is. Um, so I'm just looking forward to
like learn. Learning from a lot of these guys
, um, you know, when you look at
the rotation, you look at bullpen guys, I
mean, there's no excuse for me not to pick
their brains and learn, um, from some of
the best. So, I'm looking forward to that
and obviously, the pinstripes, I mean, the
Yankees, obviously, I mean, it's the Yankees
. One of the things is just I feel like
it's untapped, um, and I don't think you
could say that about anywhere else in Major League Baseball
, um, that you get to go to a
place that's just, it feels like it's untapped,
it feels like there's, um, a lot of
new information. To be learned, I enjoy problem
solving. I just know what I'm trying to do
. I know what I'm looking for. I know
what the field I'm trying to, to create is
, but obviously being in Colorado is gonna have its
challenges, and so I'll be making my way up
there soon to throw some bullpens. For more on
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