ATLANTA — What’ll you have first, Cubs fans, the good news or the bad news?
OK, then, the good: Fourth-time All-Star Kyle Tucker has a favorite major league ballpark in which to hit, and the masses yearning to see the Cubs extend the right fielder’s contract are going to like his pick.
“Wrigley Field,” he said.
Hallelujah. Is it too soon to start planning the next few World Series parades?
“When the wind’s blowing out,” Tucker added. “Then it’s a lot of fun to hit in.”
A qualification? What a buzzkill. Then again, we’ve heard the same observation from approximately every Cubs hitter ever.
And Tucker’s least favorite? We might as well just tee it right up for him.
“Guess it would be the same, with the wind blowing in?” he said, sounding almost apologetic.
A day before starting the All-Star Game in left alongside center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong — the Cubs’ first starting outfield duo since Alfonso Soriano and Kosuke Fukudome in 2008 — the player known as “King Tuck” treated reporters to another appearance of his alter ego, “King Duck.”
As top-notch as Tucker is with his bat, with his glove and on the bases, the 28-year-old might be best of all at saying essentially nothing in regard to a potential extension with the Cubs — $500 million, anyone? — or a foray into free agency.
Any chance an extension happens this summer? Asking for a few million desperate maniacs.
“You never know,” he said. “Things can change at any point. I’m just kind of riding it out and we’ll see how things go. Just trying to do my job in the field and let other stuff take care of itself.”
Now that’s how ducking an issue is done.
Tucker has checked every box and completely met the moment in his first Cubs season, bringing a consistency of quality that seems to permeate the entire lineup. Crow-Armstrong has been flashier and Seiya Suzuki more powerful, but Tucker leads the team in hits (100), on-base percentage (.384) and runs scored (68) and has as many walks — a team-high 60 — as strikeouts, an absolute rarity in today’s game. And with 22 stolen bases, he’s only five behind potential 40-40 man Crow-Armstrong.
If Tucker’s transition from the American League has been anything but seamless, it hasn’t been perceptible to the untrained eye.
“It was definitely, like, weird at first,” he said. “But the group of guys we have, and the coaching staff, makes it easy. Everyone is rooting for each other and just trying to get everyone better. It makes it easier.”
Given that, wouldn’t it be nice to look forward to representing the Cubs in future All-Star Games?
“Yeah, why not?” he said. “We’ll see what happens this year and beyond that.”
Would he like to be a Cub long-term?
“Yeah, why not?” he said again. “They’ve been very open with me and other players. … We have a really good environment, not just in the clubhouse but also the front office, coaching staff and everything. We’ve got a good group over there.”
Tucker called playing on the North Side “a lot of fun” and the fans “phenomenal.” Being able to go out to dinner after day games has hit the spot, too. What else is there?
Aside from blowing a hole in the Ricketts vault, that is. Not to mention Cubs president Jed Hoyer finding the nerve to go all-in on a megadeal. King Duck has been everything he was quacked up to be, but he can’t give the organization the will to spend like never before.
“I get the questions,” Tucker said, “but I’m just playing baseball.”
While the answers keep blowing in the wind.