Insider Jeff Passan Rates the 3 Finalists in Kyle Tucker Sweepstakes

"I think it's going to happen this week. And maybe sooner." Those are the words of top baseball insider Jeff Passan, in discussing the Kyle Tucker Sweepstakes, and when baseball's top free agent will make up his mind on where he's headed.

The Toronto Blue Jays, New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers are the finalists in the race to sign Tucker. And even though the Mets have been front and center in the discussions the past couple of days, Passan does give the Jays an edge in one area:

“The Toronto Blue Jays have really been the only team that has shown the willingness to go as deep as 10 years, potentially.”@JeffPassan joins Sportsnet Central to provide an update on Kyle Tucker’s free agency market. pic.twitter.com/192gYjl7DA
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) January 15, 2026

“The Toronto Blue Jays have really been the only team that has shown the willingness to go as deep as 10 years, potentially," said Passan.

We know now that the Mets have made a four-year offer of $200 million — a $50M AAV would put him just behind Juan Soto's record, who he'd then be sharing the outfield with in Queens.

"That is a lot of money for anyone to turn down on an annual basis. And now that the Mets are in at that level, the Dodgers are gonna come in, too," notes Passan.

"The market might be almost working backward at this point. It started off high... didn't materialize quite like he'd have liked, now he's gonna go get that AAV juiced up, get guys interested, and suddenly all bets are off. "

Does Tucker want more money now, or more money later?

"Kyle Tucker is going to be playing his ages 29, 30 and 31 seasons over the next three years. So he could theoretically go back out on the market as a 31-year-old. But it's a little different when you're older. And you would think that more teams would be interested, frankly, with a guy who's still in his 20s with the caliber of player he is... But sometimes markets move in mysterious ways."

So the question is: Does Tucker want the biggest money now? Or more money on an extended basis in later years?

It sounds like we could be hearing something very soon from the four-time All-Star with the very impressive career OPS+ of 140.