Story byJames SchianoFri, January 16, 2026 at 8:28 AM UTC·9 min readA shock wave reverberated through the baseball world late Thursday night when star free agent Kyle Tucker signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers on an eye-popping four-year, $240 million contract. The deal includes a $64 million signing bonus, opt-outs after both the second and third seasons and $30 million of deferred money. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementTucker now has the highest present-day average annual average value of any player in major league history at $57.1 million, surpassing Juan Soto’s $51 million mark set last offseason. Don’t forget: Keep a close eye on the Rotoworld Player News page so you don’t miss any of the action. Besides the Dodgers, the Mets and Blue Jays were both in hot pursuit of Tucker as well. The Mets offered a similarly massive four-year, $220 million deal with no deferred money and a whopping $75 million signing bonus. That was both a larger signing bonus and (obviously) less deferred money compared to the Dodgers’ winning offer. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe exact parameters of the Blue Jays’ final offer to Tucker isn’t known, but reporting suggests they were more focused on a longer term deal with less money per year.
