The rich get richer: Dodgers sign Kyle Tucker to stunning contract
USA TODAY Sports’ Gabe Lux explains Kyle Tucker’s surprising contract with the Dodgers.
sports pulse
Major League Baseball is expected to face an explosive labor dispute after the 2026 season, and the possibility of a December 1st work stoppage is increasing with each passing week.
In recent days, the two-time World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers have faced renewed criticism for “ruining baseball” after signing top free agent Kyle Tucker to a contract that pays him $60 million per season and brings the team’s competitive tax salary CBT to more than $400 million.
With tensions already high heading into 2026, the furor and jealousy surrounding the Dodgers’ recent big-money acquisition may embolden MLB owners, many of whom have refused to invest in on-field products, to push for a salary cap even further.
Unlike the NFL and NBA, MLB did not have a hard cap. That’s what the league and owners have always wanted, but historically the idea has fallen by the time the players union arrives. MLBPA Executive Director Tony Clark said last year that the salary cap would lead to further “institutionalized collusion” to suppress player salaries.
Here’s what baseball’s biggest players have said about the possibility of a salary cap in recent years.
The two-time MVP reportedly “faced” Manfred during a visit to the Phillies clubhouse in July 2025 and told the MLB commissioner to “stop the (expletive)” if he was going to talk about the salary cap.
Harper did not dispute the report, later telling reporters: “Everyone saw those words and everything that happened, but I don’t want to say anything more.”
“I’ve been talking about labor, and I’ve been talking about it so that I don’t have to talk to the media about it,” Harper said. “It doesn’t have to be public. It has nothing to do with the media or anyone else. … I’ve always been very vocal, just not in a way that people can see.”
Harper’s agent, Scott Boras, sided with his client, pointing to the MLB draft cap, which was set two years after Harper was selected No. 1 overall in 2010.
“Young players need to talk to veterans like Harp, who has battled the effects of the cap all his life,” Boras told The Athletic. “…Harp knows what the caps can do to the rights of players, especially young players.”
Tony Clark, MLBPA Executive Director
“Institutionalized collusion, that’s what the salary cap is…” Clark told the Baseball Writers Association of America at the 2025 All-Star Game. “The cap is not about partnerships. The cap is not about the growth of the game. The cap is about franchise value and profit…
“Salary caps, historically, with the limited contract guarantees that come with them, literally pit players against other players and are often shared with players as a definitively non-competitive system. It doesn’t reward excellence. It undermines it from an organizational standpoint. So this is not about competitive balance. It’s not about fair or unfair.”
Clark said based on the financial information he has received, many teams have the money but are choosing not to be competitive.
“We believe there are ways to motivate and support people in a different market than Los Angeles or New York,” Clark said. “We have the opportunity to do that and we don’t have to limit player salaries to do that and we can do it in the interest of the group.”
Rob Manfred, MLB Commissioner
“When I talk to players, I’m not trying to convince them that the salary cap is a good thing. I identify a problem in the media business and explain that we need to change ownership to address that problem,” Manfred said in 2025. “And I identify a second problem that we need to work together on, which is that there are fans in many of our markets who feel there is a problem with competitive balance.”
Scott Boras, baseball agent
The most prominent agent in American sports has always spoken out against the salary cap.
“We’ve been hearing this story for 20 years. It’s like a childhood fable,” he said in 2025. “This very traditional, same-same approach is not going to lead young players into gingerbread houses.”
Dave Roberts, Dodgers manager
“(The salary cap) will be fine” in late 2025, Roberts said. “I think the NBA has done a good job of splitting revenue with players and owners, but if they’re going to rein in spending at the top, I think they need to raise the bar to get the bottom players to spend money as well.”
The MLBPA wasn’t too pleased with the three-time World Series champion’s public support for earning the cap, but Roberts later supported his idea.
“Here’s the problem,” Roberts said. “Like all of us, I have a right to an opinion. So I think it’s one person’s opinion. And fortunately, unfortunately, I don’t have the right to vote.”
