Kyle Tucker and Ryan Pressly return to Houston: ‘Everyone's going to be watching this series'

New York Times

8 hours ago

HOUSTON — Managers maintain they never think ahead, but Thursday afternoon at Daikin Park allowed Joe Espada the rare chance to break character. During the first inning, Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Nick Castellanos lifted a sinking line drive into right field, conjuring Espada's memories of a far more consequential fly ball hit to that same spot.
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On Nov. 5, 2022, with a ballpark nearing bedlam and a ballclub closing in on a championship, Castellanos chased a first-pitch slider from Ryan Pressly. The baseball traveled 219 feet toward the right field line. Kyle Tucker loped into foul territory, caught it and completed the second World Series championship in Houston Astros history.
Tucker still has the baseball stowed away somewhere in his home for safekeeping. Asked on Friday whether he's ever tried to wrestle it away, Pressly deadpanned, 'I'm just glad he caught it.'
'Hopefully,' Pressly added from the third-base dugout, 'we can re-create that in Chicago.'
Pressly and Tucker teamed for the most meaningful out in the history of Houston's downtown ballpark. On Friday afternoon, they entered it as visitors and two vestiges of a transformative Astros winter like few before it.
Trading both players to the Chicago Cubs strayed from most of Houston's standard operating procedure during its golden era. Paring payroll and procuring prospects took precedence, prompting wonder whether that run could be waning. Finishing the first half 48-33 has offered an authoritative answer.
'They've done that for how many years now? Ten? Every time they lose somebody they always seem to replace (them) with somebody that's really good and pick up the baton right behind them and keep winning,' Pressly said. 'It's what they've been doing for the past decade now.'
Tucker and Pressly helped to prolong this successful era, a fact the Astros hoped to accentuate during a pregame feting on Friday night. It forced two players into the sort of spotlight they've never been comfortable embracing. Both Tucker and Pressly are pleasant people, but prefer for their play to speak for itself. Returning to Houston made it impossible.
Four cameras followed Tucker during his walk in from a loading dock located, fittingly, in the right field corner. A swarm of at least 15 reporters greeted both him and Pressly inside the third-base dugout prior to batting practice.

Specks of gold were sprinkled throughout the right field stands, where a sizable group of fans wore crowns in honor of 'King Tuck.' One young girl outside the third-base dugout held a sign proclaiming 'Tucker, you're still my bestie!' Tucker acknowledged it before mingling with many of his former coaches before Chicago's batting practice.
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The Astros played Tucker's longtime walk-up song — Rich Homie Quan's 'Walk Through' — before his first at-bat. Tucker stepped out of the batter's box to tip his helmet toward both a roaring crowd and the applauding Astros' dugout.
'There's a lot of really good memories here and we had a lot of success playing in this city and on this field, so it's cool,' Tucker said. 'The biggest thing is being around the guys in those moments.'
Tucker and Pressly will be forever intertwined, but parallels between their two trades are almost nonexistent. The Astros traded Pressly as a pure salary dump, influenced in part by his deteriorating relationship with general manager Dana Brown. Houston offloaded $8.5 million of Pressly's $14 million salary as it attempted to lower its luxury tax payroll. It also entered Friday with the lowest bullpen ERA in the American League in Pressly's absence, though the veteran reliever has had a fine season with Chicago.
Trading Tucker is a far more seismic decision, one that could define Brown's tenure as the club's head of baseball operations. Owner Jim Crane is loath to give the type of contract Tucker will command in free agency next winter, but that philosophy didn't precipitate trades of other homegrown stars like Alex Bregman, Carlos Correa or George Springer.
The Astros' depleted farm system almost forced Brown to trade Tucker. So did the understanding that retaining Bregman in free agency would be difficult given Crane's aforementioned contract philosophy. That Houston had coveted third baseman Isaac Paredes since last season's trade deadline only made the decision easier.
Acquiring both Paredes and Cam Smith from the Cubs was supposed to solve Houston's third base situation in both the short and long term. Smith switched to right field amid an eye-opening stint in major-league spring training, made the team after just 32 professional games and is now one of the sport's best defensive outfielders.
'It's no secret that everyone's going to be watching this series,' said a smiling Smith, who whacked his sixth major-league home run in the fourth inning of Friday's game.

Smith's swift ascent has exceeded the already enormous expectations Houston had for him. Paredes is the team's home run leader and trails only Jeremy Peña for the club's OPS lead. Starter Hayden Wesneski, the third member of Houston's haul from Chicago, underwent Tommy John surgery last month, but has four more seasons of club control.
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Tucker, meanwhile, has given the Cubs everything they desired. He entered Friday with a .922 OPS and on pace for a 30/30 season. During the first inning on Friday, Tucker uncorked a wonderful throw to nab Paredes trying to score from second base on a single.
'I think both teams really got value (and) pretty good return for that trade,' Espada said.
Grading a trade after three months is foolish. Smith's development across his next five years will weigh heavily in the final verdict. Whether the Cubs can retain Tucker after this season will factor in, too. Even if they can't, complaints in Chicago will be nonexistent if Tucker carries the Cubs to their fourth World Series championship.
'It's been a pretty easy and smooth transition,' Tucker said. 'They've welcomed me and my family with open arms. It's been a lot of fun to play in front of that crowd and that fan base and just the city itself with the whole history behind the city and the team. It's been really fun to be a part of. I'm excited to get back after this series and continue it.'
Before he could, his former team sought sentimentality. At 6:52 p.m., the Astros played a three-minute tribute video for both Tucker and Pressly, bookended by highlights of the Castellanos fly ball that will forever live in Houston lore.
'A lot of memories have been made out on that field,' Pressly said. 'A lot of lifetime friendships made on the other side. I always root for these guys. They're great teammates. I was super fortunate and blessed to share a clubhouse with a couple of those guys who are pretty much legends over there in this city. I couldn't have been more thankful to share my time with them.'