Cubs' Kyle Tucker blows the rest of the NL Central's right fielders out of the water

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4. Jake Fraley, Reds

Fraley is a serviceable big leaguer but doesn't offer a ton of upside anywhere. The former LSU Tiger gives the Reds a high-contact piece in a lineup that is going to strike out a ton, plus he offers average defense in right. He had a bit of a power surge in 2023 but doesn't seem to be a 20+ homer guy as he enters his age-30 season.

5. Josh Palacios, Pirates

I almost feel bad for Pirates fans- you can see the bones of a legitimate contender (a strong front three starters, a few good position players, etc.) finally but the front office has failed to clean up some of the frayed edges despite their being some easy and relatively cheap upgrades available in free agency. Their right field situation is one of those frayed edges- Palacios has played roughly a full season equivalent of games in the bigs and has produced a whopping -.4 WAR over those at-bats. He's the favorite to win the job over Jack Suwinski, whose production plummeted from a 113 OPS+ in 2023 to a 63 mark in 2024. Suwinski was so bad that he lost the job to Palacios, a journeyman who was at least able to post a 90 OPS+ after taking over.

Pirates fans must be frustrated by the ownership's unwillingness to spend just a bit more money while they have their young flamethrowers on pre-arbitration contracts. They're in a division with enough question marks that it's not inconceivable that, with a few cheap additions, they could hover around .500 until the trade deadline and rely on their starters to push them towards 85 or 86 wins and potentially a division crown. I'm not even suggesting that they compete for mid-level free agents- even a guy like Mike Tauchman would have drastically improved their right field outlook for the year.

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