We’ve collected projections for the most anticipated free agents of the last three offseasons: first it was Aaron Judge, then Shohei Ohtani, then Juan Soto (with an update in October).

While there isn’t a massive free agent expected to smash records this winter like Ohtani and Soto did, there are two players who are intriguing for different reasons and also happen to have the same first name: Kyle Schwarber and Kyle Tucker.

From one point of view, Tucker has had a solid walk year, posting 4.7 WAR with his offensive numbers down just a tick from last year’s career year but underlying metrics close to his best seasons. On the other hand, Tucker had a really rough run in August, hitting .148/.233/.148 (16 wRC+) over 15 games (61 plate appearances) from Aug. 1 to Aug. 18. This led to him sitting out games Aug. 19 and 20. The Chicago Cubs right fielder has hit well since returning, but now he’s on the injured list with a calf strain. That said, he was tied for fifth in baseball in WAR at the end of June, and he remains in the top 20.

Schwarber’s season is less complicated. The Philadelphia Phillies slugger has posted career bests in most offensive categories, including his 50 homers, 123 RBIs and 4.5 WAR. The only negatives for his outlook on free agency are that Schwarber will be 33 years old in March and has played only 13 games in the field over the last two seasons. Designated hitters well into their 30s haven’t fared well in free agency, but none of those had hit 50 homers in their walk year, so Schwarber is in uncharted territory.

How much might each of the Kyles get this winter? We polled 20 scouts, executives and agents to find out.

Kyle Tucker

How much could Tucker get?

Here are the 20 responses from our panel, grouped in tiers by total dollars.

Under $350 million (6): 11 years/$308 million, 9 years/$315 million (2x), 8 years/$320 million, 9 years/$340 million, 9 years/$342 million

$350-$399 million (4): 8 years/$352 million, 10 years/$375 million, 12 years/$375 million, 11 years/$380 million

$400-499 million (8): 10 years/$400 million, 11 years/$400 million, 11 years/$418 million, 10 years/$420 million (2x), 10 years/$425 million, 12 years/$425 million, 10 years/$450 million

At least $500 million (2): 10 years/$500 million, 12 years/$550 million

The average of all 20 projections is 10.1 years, $391.5 million, for a $38.8 million average annual value (AAV).

The median projection of those deals is $390 million.

Who are the closest comps?

Tucker’s consistent standout performance (five straight 4-5 fWAR seasons and five straight hitting performances 30% better than league average) makes it hard to find a recent free agent comparison. He’s 10th in baseball in WAR over the last five seasons.

Over the last four free agent classes, the $150M+ position players don’t have a great fit for a comp. Soto’s $765 million deal and Ohtani’s $700 million deal aren’t useful. Shortstops Willy Adames, Trea Turner, Xander Bogaerts, Carlos Correa, Dansby Swanson, Marcus Semien and Corey Seager are positionally quite different, though Seager isn’t a terrible secondary comp. Freddie Freeman was three years older than Tucker as a free agent and Aaron Judge was two years older, while also coming off of an 11.1 WAR season with 62 homers, so neither seems that relevant. Kris Bryant was already trending down when he hit free agency, while Brandon Nimmo was trending up but had years of durability concerns.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s $500 million April extension with the Toronto Blue Jays is the comp that kept coming up with those we surveyed. Vlad’s extension kicks in next year for his age-27 season, while Tucker will be 29. It’s only two years, but it’s a very important two years in projecting the value in a long-term deal. Tucker has more baserunning and positional value, but he’s still a corner outfielder. Guerrero’s extension was signed outside of a competitive bidding situation, with the perception being that the Jays paid a little more than the market would bear to lock up their franchise player after a last-place American League East finish last season and with fellow core player Bo Bichette still unsigned.

Who are Tucker’s potential suitors?

There was little confidence from those surveyed (none of whom work for the Cubs) about the Cubs winning a bidding war for Tucker. The Los Angeles Dodgers, longtime fans of Tucker, were mentioned by a number of industry insiders. We didn’t ask about a projected team, so the Dodgers coming up often seems to be indicative of a feeling in the industry that they’re the team to beat.

Putting all of those pieces together, you can see why a contingent of the industry thinks Tucker will land somewhere around Guerrero’s extension, some think he’ll end up closer to $300 million, but most have him around $400 million, give or take, which is also where Jeff Passan’s sources led him.

Kyle Schwarber

How much could Schwarber get?

Here are the 20 responses from our panel, grouped in tiers by total dollars.

Under $100 million (2): 4 years/$72 million, 3 years/$90 million

$100-$125 million (11): 3 years/$100 million, 4 years/$100 million, 4 years/$110 million (2x), 4 years/$112 million (3x), 5 years/$118 million, 4 years/$120 million (2x), 3 years/$125 million

$126-180 million (5): 4 years/$140 million, 6 years/$150 million, 4 years/$160 million, 5 years/$160 million, 4 years/$180 million

At least $200 million (2): 6 years.$200 million, 7 years/$245 million

The average of all 20 projections is 4.3 years, $131.8 million, for a $30.7 million average annual value (AAV).

The median projection of those deals is $119 million.

Who are the closest comps?

A handful of comps come up for Schwarber:

J.D. Martinez: Five years, $110 million going into his age-30 season in 2018 (45 HRs, 4.3 WAR walk year)

Paul Goldschmidt: Five years, $130 million going into his age-32 season in 2020 (33 HRs, 4.6 WAR in walk year)

Freeman: Six years, $162 million going into his age-32 season in 2022 (31 HRs, 4.7 WAR in walk year)

The comp math would say Schwarber should get one year less than the shortest deal above due to his age (thus, four years) and land in the $25-30 million average annual value (AAV) area, which is right where those surveyed ended up.

Who are Schwarber’s potential suitors?

Conversely to the Tucker/Cubs situation, a lot of those surveyed think there’s a strong chance the Phillies will act quickly after the season ends to bring Schwarber back. Either way, he seems to be a target for a contending team looking to beef up the middle of its lineup in the short term, and hopefully not have an albatross on its ledger at the end of the deal.

All of those teams would be conscious of luxury tax numbers, and a rival agent brought up an interesting wrinkle he’s expecting to see: Schwarber will get that fifth year, for a little added money, to get the AAV down.

A number of teams should be interested at that low-nine-figure area, as the predictions suggest, but there could eventually be a landing spot closer to $150 million with enough competitive bidding. That said, some teams simply can’t stomach that kind of money for an older DH.

NEW YORK — President Donald Trump attended a New York Yankees game Thursday night to mark the 24th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, after honoring the memories of the victims at the Pentagon earlier in the day.

Trump stopped by the Yankees’ locker room prior to their 9-3 victory against the Detroit Tigers. He shook hands with the players and team staff members, and he talked about being close for years with late Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, calling him “a great friend of mine, the whole family.”

Trump correctly predicted the Yankees would win, noting of his past attendance at games with Steinbrenner: “We won every time I came.”

“You’re gonna win,” Trump told the Yankees. “… I want to wish you guys a lot of luck. You’re great players.”

He later added: “You’re going to go all the way, and you’ll get in the playoff — and I think we’ll start off, how about tonight? We’ll start from tonight on, and you’re going to do well.”

The Yankees had lost the first two games of the series against the Tigers by a combined score of 23-3.

Manager Aaron Boone announced before Trump’s arrival that Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe had quietly been playing with a partial labrum tear in his left shoulder. As he greeted him, Trump patted Volpe softly on the shoulder.

President Donald Trump is in attendance at the Tigers vs. Yankees game. pic.twitter.com/WXm3kAdxjg

— ESPN (@espn) September 11, 2025

A presidential visit always prompts extra security at sporting events, but things were heightened after conservative activist and close Trump ally Charlie Kirk was shot and killed in Utah on Wednesday. When Trump attended the Sept. 11 observance ceremony at the Pentagon earlier Thursday, authorities moved the ceremony inside as an added precaution.

Authorities installed security glass outside an upper-level suite on the third-base side, over the visiting Tigers dugout, for the president. During the national anthem, Trump was shown on the stadium’s jumbotron.

Moments earlier, as he first took his seat, the president briefly waved to the crowd and flashed a thumbs-up.

He sat next to Yankees team president Randy Levine and chatted with him throughout the game.

Later, when “YMCA” was played, Trump spelled out the letters with his arms but stayed seated.

“It’s something that I’m excited to be a part of,” Boone said of Trump being on hand.

The president left shortly after the seventh-inning stretch, which featured the singing of “God Bless America” — as it traditionally does at Yankees games on Sept. 11 — in addition to the traditional “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.”

Trump was shown on the big screen three times in quick succession and the announcer said, “Welcome back, New York’s own, the 45th and 47th President.”

Among the announced crowd of nearly 41,000, that prompted cheers of “USA! USA!” and some chants of Trump’s last name as he stood, grinned and pumped his fist in a downward motion.

Tonight, we join all of Major League Baseball in observing a moment of silence for the victims, survivors, heroes, and all those impacted by the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001. #NeverForget pic.twitter.com/Rhhq7E703L

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) September 11, 2025

Even before Trump left the White House, security at the stadium was tight. Every entrance featured metal detectors and Secret Service agents, some with sniffer dogs, while New York Police Department helicopters thundered overhead.

Stadium authorities opened the gates three hours before the first pitch, and long lines began forming even before that. The Yankees said ticket holders were “strongly urged to arrive as early as possible.”

The Secret Service also posted a statement saying extra time would be necessary and asked fans to “consider leaving your bags at home to help speed up the security screening process.”

Trump’s attendance at the US Open men’s final in Queens last weekend sparked long security lines. Some fans didn’t make it to their seats until more than an hour into the match despite organizers delaying its start by 30 minutes.

The game is Trump’s eighth major sporting event since returning to the White House in January. He attended the Super Bowl in New Orleans, the Daytona 500, UFC fights in Miami and Newark, New Jersey, the NCAA wrestling championships in Philadelphia, the FIFA Club World Cup final in East Rutherford, New Jersey, and last weekend’s US Open match.

His appearance marks the third time a sitting president has visited Yankee Stadium for a game, following George W. Bush in 2001 and Warren G. Harding, who came in 1923, the same year the original Yankee Stadium opened.

The Yankee Stadium scoreboard featured a large MLB logo over an American flag and a red, white and blue ribbon under the inscription “September 11, 2001, We Shall Not Forget.”

The large American flag behind the left-field bleachers and the smaller flags for each of baseball’s 30 teams that ring the stadium’s upper level were lowered to half-staff after Trump issued an executive order honoring Kirk.

Trump was born in the New York borough of Queens, and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said he “remains a New Yorker at heart.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

NEW YORK — Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe had a cortisone shot in his left shoulder on Wednesday after playing through a small tear in his labrum for more than four months.

Before the Yankees beat the Tigers 9-3 on Thursday night, manager Aaron Boone said Volpe underwent the injection after aggravating a previous shoulder injury while making a diving stop on Isiah Kiner-Falefa in Sunday’s 4-3 win over Toronto.

“I went for a play in the hole against IKF and just reaching across the body, and just reaching across the body and then the weight coming on it,” Volpe said. “That’s basically what happened.”

It was Volpe’s second cortisone shot this season. The Yankees also said the 24-year-old had a cortisone shot during the All-Star break.

“I think all things considered pretty good,” Volpe said. “We’re all just kind of going to see how it responded last night to the shot and if it was good.”

José Caballero started again for Volpe on Thursday and made his sixth start at shortstop since being acquired at the trade deadline from Tampa Bay. Boone said Volpe was not available off the bench and may miss the opener of a three-game series at Boston on Friday.

Volpe originally was injured when he felt a pop in his shoulder during the eighth inning of a 3-2 loss to the Rays on May 3. He made an unsuccessful backhand stab on Christopher Morel‘s single that sparked Tampa Bay’s two-run rally.

“He’s aggravated it, maybe a couple of times, Sunday being one of them and each time it’s kind of added to — I think it’s just a swelling issue,” Boone said. “So I think he said something the other day about it.

“We MRI-ed it. It shows a little bit more of a labrum tear but nothing that we think is going to land him on the IL or nothing that he can’t continue to play through. He already feels better today. I don’t expect it to be an issue but that being said, if he goes out there and aggravates it again, we may have to look at it more.”

Volpe is hitting .206 with 19 homers and 70 RBI in 141 games. He is 8 for 44 in his last 12 games since not starting Aug. 24-25 after getting one hit in his previous 28 at-bats heading into the benching.

At the time of his original injury, Volpe was hitting .233 with five homers and 19 RBI. Since then, he is hitting .197 and has the lowest average among qualified shortstops.

“I don’t think it’s been a major factor in his performance or his ability to swing the bat or in his ability to kind of go to the post every day,” Boone said.

Volpe last played in Tuesday’s 12-2 loss, when he went 0 for 3 with a two strikeouts and popped out on a bunt with two on in the fifth inning.

As a rookie in 2023, Volpe won a Gold Glove and hit .209 with 21 homers, 60 RBI and had 24 stolen bases after winning the shortstop job in spring training. He batted .243 with 12 homers and 60 RBI last year.

In the postseason, Volpe batted .286, including hitting a grand slam in Game 4 of the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.