Baseball is filled with numbers, and numbers can be used to make almost any point you want to make.
Like, say you wanted to point out that Kyle Tucker's four-year, $240 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers might be a massive overpay. You could use numbers relating to New York Yankees superstar Aaron Judge to do so.
That's what The Athletic's Brendan Kuty did on X on Friday morning:
Aaron Judge was worth $81 million last year, according to Fangraphs' Dollars stat. Kyle Tucker was worth $36 million.
— Brendan Kuty 🧟♂️ (@BrendanKutyNJ) January 16, 2026
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That stat is essentially turning Wins Above Replacement into a dollar value. It's possible to calculate how much each win is worth, and then you take a player's WAR and extrapolate it that way.
Given that Judge is one of the greatest right-handed hitters of all time, and is coming off yet another MVP season, it's no shock he's worth a fortune.
Tucker was hampered a bit by injury, but it's still a clearly gargantuan gap.
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Judge is entering the fourth year of a nine-year, $360 million contract.
He's paid exactly $40 million in each of the nine seasons. And right now, it's looking like an absolute bargain.
If Tucker helps the Dodgers three-peat, they're not going to care how much they're paying him. But there is a real chance it ends up looking like an overpay.
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