The Cubs addressed a significant need on Friday, finalizing a four-player contract for Astros outfielder Kyle Tucker. In return, the Cubs are sending Isaac Paredes, Hayden Wesneski and young player Cam Smith to Houston.

According to multiple reports, the trade will give Chicago a much-needed left-handed power bat. The Cubs ranked 21st in baseball with 170 home runs and 17th in slugging percentage (.393) in 2024. In 78 games last season, Tucker hit 23 home runs; As a team, the Cubs had only one player – Ian Happ – who scored at least that many goals over a full season. Tucker also posted a WAR of 4.7, more than any other Cubs player.

There should be little doubt whether this is a smart move for the Cubs in 2025. They lose third baseman Paredes to the deal, but they should have internal options to replace him. For a team that had 83 straight wins on the season, a bold move had to be made, and this is arguably the right one. Trading Tucker likely represents another move to clear space in the outfield corps (Cody Bellinger has been expected to be traded since the start of the offseason and has been rumored to be a Yankees target), making him a near-star of the Yankees Cubs would cement. right fielder next season.

Looking at where Tucker will put the Cubs in 2025, there is a lot to like about this trade. But news of the deal hinges on the reality that Tucker is set to become an unrestricted free agent in 2026, and he has said he intends to test free agency. He’ll still be under 30 at this point, and if he continues on the path that has earned him three straight All-Star nods, Tucker will rightly attract a lot of attention in the free agent market.

In short, the Cubs may have traded players (Paredes and Smith) who could help them beyond 2025 for someone who will almost certainly make them better next year, but maybe just for next year. It’s similar to the Yankees and Juan Soto, and there are reasons to be okay with it from both perspectives.

On the one hand, the Cubs need to take a step forward. Team president Jed Hoyer only has one year left on his contract and another mediocre season isn’t enough. A playoff spot doesn’t necessarily guarantee him an extension, but it will help him no matter which direction Hoyer goes. Either he has a better chance of staying in Chicago or he is a more attractive target for another organization. From a fan perspective, frustration is high for a team that hasn’t made the playoffs since 2020 and hasn’t won a playoff game since 2017. Watching a team that is realistically in the playoff conversation in 2025 might be worth losing Tucker after a year. It’s a “win now” move that fans have been asking for.

But from another perspective, it might not be a good move for the team in the long run. Paredes is only 25 and his absence opens a hole at third base. The Cubs have internal options like their No. 1 overall pick, Matt Shaw, but he has no major league experience. Expecting him to perform at a level comparable to what Paredes might have offered the Cubs in 1925 might not be realistic. And Cam Smith, the prospect included in the trade, was their first-round draft pick this year and is already ranked seventh in the Cubs’ system. After being drafted, he batted .313 at three pro levels, reaching Double-A Tennessee. One or both of these players could have realistically helped the Cubs achieve long-term success.

The problem with that argument, however, is that at some point an organization has to make a move like the Cubs did on Friday. In sport, constantly building for the future means never achieving it. If the Cubs just continued to build talent and maintain a payroll that stayed below the luxury tax, they would continually struggle to compete with clubs like the Mets and Dodgers, who have pushed payroll concerns aside. Trading for Kyle Tucker doesn’t exactly mean they’re using all of their chips, and alone won’t get the Cubs to the same level as New York and Los Angeles, but it’s a step in that direction.

However, this does not have to be an either/or proposition. The Cubs could have Tucker to help them win in 2025 and extend him to keep their competitive window open for more than just a year. It will be expensive to tie him to an extension — it won’t be cheap to convince him to turn down the chance to test free agency in a market that just paid Soto $765 million — but the Cubs have the resources. According to Roster Resource, her salary is estimated at $194 million in 2025, and her tax bracket will increase from about $70 million next year to $75 million in 2026. If the Cubs trade Bellinger, it will create even more financial flexibility.

There are a lot of reasons to like the Cubs trading for Kyle Tucker, even if it might hurt a bit after 2025, because they are a team that needs to take a step forward and he will help them do that. And there are also plenty of reasons to believe they can combine the best of both worlds and extend the 27-year-old on a long-term contract.