Kyle Tucker’s brutal season for Dodgers keeps getting more embarrassing

The Los Angeles Dodgers signed Kyle Tucker to the second-highest average annual salary in MLB history over the offseason with a four-year, $240 million deal. While $30 million of that is deferred, Tucker still got an enormous amount of money coming off an uneven season with the Chicago Cubs where he crushed it in the first half and totally fell apart in the second half.

At the time, the signing was the ultimate proof that there was no limit on the Dodgers’ spending as they went after a World Series three-peat. Fast forward to August, and the Tucker deal now looks like the one thing that might give the rest of baseball a chance against a potential LA dynasty moving forward.

Tucker has fallen way short of expectations this season, and he’s been especially dreadful as of late. He had another viral error on Monday night as Los Angeles walked all over the Colorado Rockies, and at this point even the home fans are booing him. Watch Tucker drop a routine fly ball against Colorado here:

This isn’t a big deal when the Dodgers are up 10-1 as they were in that game, but the margins will be tighter in the playoffs, and Tucker is quickly becoming a liability. Tucker is on a stretch of 0-for-23 at the plate, and just finished a homestand 0-for-19 at the dish. This is par for the course for his season: Tucker has been just awful at Dodger Stadium, with a 60 wRC+ at home compared to a 126 wRC+ on the road. No wonder the home fans are booing him.

The Dodgers lost three of four at home to the Milwaukee Brewers, their biggest threat in the NL, before coming to Colorado. Tucker made a poor defensive play in the outfield during their Sunday loss, too. It sure seems like his struggles at the plate are starting to impact him in the field.

It’s gotten so bad for Tucker that Dodgers color man Eric Karros has suggested sending him down to Arizona. Tucker was also booed at Wrigley Field in front of his former fanbase, and seemed to get pretty defensive about it. Tucker had a reasonable excuse for his second half struggles last year as he was recovering from a broken hand. This year, he’s just in a straight up slump at home.

He sure looks miserable during games right now.

It seems like both the pressure of the contract and the Dodgers’ World Series expectations are getting to Tucker in LA. He’s hitting just .189 with a .558 OPS in 234 plate appearances at Dodger Stadium this year. For whatever reason, he’s been much better on the road with an .822 OPS.

This year is going so poorly for Tucker that he’s even getting beamed in the head when opposing catchers are just trying to throw the ball back to the mound.

Tucker’s base salary essentially jumps from $33 million to $87 million next year. The Dodgers signed him to provide some insurance against age-related declines from Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman. Instead, Freeman has been fantastic, while Tucker and Betts struggle. At least Betts provides some value in the field.

It’s hard to believe that Cubs MVP candidate Pete Crow-Armstrong amassed more fWAR on Monday night alone than Tucker has all season. Any other team would be screwed when a free agent signing this pricey is struggling to such a historic degree. The Dodgers still have Shohei Ohtani and a talented pitching staff to fall back on, but anything less than a World Series will be considered a disappointment.

Tucker is struggling midway through August. The Dodgers better hope he breaks out of it soon with the playoffs around the corner.