While adding a top-of-the-market run-producer in Kyle Tucker, the Cubs have also cut their payroll by $60 million. They dropped 12 veterans who produced only 2.3 fWAR.

Baseball insider Keith Law discusses how the Cubs not coming to terms on a 2025 salary with recently acquired OF Kyle Tucker will impact his future with the team.

The Chicago Cubs, as most everyone probably knows by now, failed to come to an agreement with the newly acquired Kyle Tucker and his people on a 2025 salary, thereby forcing an arbitration hearing.

The Cubs and newly acquired OF Kyle Tucker could not come to an agreement on a salary for 2025, per a source. The Cubs filed at $15 mil. Tucker's camp at $17.5 mil. The Cubs acquired Tucker on Dec. 13 in one of the biggest trades of the MLB offseason so far.

The Cubs have traditionally taken a file-and-trial approach to arbitration, even though teams and players are free to reach an agreement before the date of their scheduled hearing. The Cubs did, however, make an exception with catcher Willson Contreras after the lockout in 2022, when arbitration hearings were held in-season.

When the Chicago Cubs made the blockbuster deal to bring in three-time All-Star Kyle Tucker from the Houston Astros, after the initial excitement from the fan base wore down a bit, thoughts turned to Tucker’s future beyond 2025.