Kyle Tucker's talk sounds cheap after revealing Blue Jays' gracious gesture

Kyle Tucker was the Toronto Blue Jays' number one free agent target in the offseason - aside from arguably Dylan Cease. Tucker checked off a lot of boxes on the Blue Jays wish list, including being a left-handed hitting outfielder with power. And while they pursued him closely and their appeared to be some mutual interest, Tucker decided he preferred Dodgers' blue instead of Toronto's version of the colour and signed a massive four-year $240 million contract with LA.

An unfortunate result for the Blue Jays who have a growing reputation as being the club that finishes second to the Dodgers both on and off the field. But this decision feels like it hurt a little bit more considering a recent goodwill gesture by the Blue Jays that was revealed by Tucker.

Tucker reveals Blue Jays helped him during his rehab process

In an article on The Athletic by Mitch Bannon, Tucker told reporters that he was granted permission by the club to use the teams new rehab facilities at Rogers Centre in 2024 while he was a member of the Houston Astros. The Astros were visiting the Blue Jays in July that year and Tucker was allowed to go to the ballpark early to hop on to their underwater treadmill - and received a behind the scenes look at team's entirely newly renovated player facilities.

"I was always very grateful for that," Tucker was quoted as saying in the article. I never counted them out until something was done. I was looking forward to whichever team I eventually ended up signing with. Obviously, they have great fans, a great stadium and a really good team."

And Tucker could have been a part of that really good team for a decade had he signed with the Blue Jays. According to reports, the Blue Jays had a 10-year $350 million contract on the table in January, which would have given Tucker an AAV of $35 million. But the Dodgers $60 million AAV blew that out of the water.

Tucker had nothing but nice things to say about the organization, but what else would you expect him to say after the team widely opened their doors to him, even before the recruitment process could officially begin, and were still told, "thanks but no thanks." During the winter, the Blue Jays had Tucker tour their other facilities, played in different golf games and charity tournaments with Blue Jays players and more, all in an attempt to further entice the 29-year-old to come north of the border.

But just like their pursuits of Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Roki Sasaki, the Blue Jays bowed out in the end to the Dodgers who continue to spend obscene amounts of money on their baseball team. It's hard to fault the Dodgers for doing that - every fan should want their team to open their pocketbooks like the Dodgers, they just don't. And at least the Blue Jays tried to do it, unlike most of the other 28 other teams who were never in contention. But it's also frustrating from the Blue Jays side of things to come up empty handed again, even when going above and beyond to support a players needs.