Struggling Dodgers outfielder Kyle Tucker needs to

It’s as though Kyle Tucker by chance grew to become important at work and it ruined his life.

He just so occurred to be the best out there proper fielder on the free agent market at the second in time that the Dodgers have been craving an uptick in proper subject and another practical bat to additional fortify their lineup.

Basically, they wished just another cog in the machine to help clear a path to a third consecutive World Series championship.

And because money is no object — to the objection of the remaining of baseball — instead of offering Tucker a long-term deal with annual pay more in line with his skills, the Dodgers slapped a four-year, $240-million deal on the desk.

Said, basically: Hey, man, how would you want a Major League Baseball document for average annual worth — about $57.1 million per 12 months — not to be the man, but to be a man?

Not to outshine Shohei Ohtani and his starry buddies, not to transfer merch off the sector or do big numbers on it. Just to quietly do what he did the earlier season as a Chicago Cub, when he slashed .266/.377/.464 with 22 home runs, 73 RBIs and 25 stolen bases in 136 video games.

It must have felt like successful the lottery. All the introverted Tucker had to do was be his regular self with the understanding that no one anticipated him to live up to that Ohtani-type contract, that Juan Soto-esque dough, that Aaron Judge-level cheddar.

It wasn’t that an excessive amount of was anticipated of Tucker, it was that only so a lot was.

That was a bizarre place to start. And it clearly didn’t help him discover his footing as a Dodger, because he still hasn’t gained traction.

“I mean, it’s been a struggle in the sense that I’d like to help our team win and perform better for the guys in the clubhouse and the fans that come to the games,” Tucker said Friday. “In that aspect, I wish I would’ve done better this year. But like I said, we’ve still got a month and a half left and the playoffs coming up, so it’s not over yet.”

We can’t, of course, say “poor Kyle Tucker” as he strains — less stoically now — to determine it out with the postseason closing in.

But we are able to marvel if it was a poor determination by the Dodgers, with all of their top-flight minor league outfield prospects, to splurge so steeply?

We can ask whether or not they need to have taken into account the mental make-up of a man who they have been asking to carry the weight of a contract so unwieldy he must be embarrassed by it — which is how Tucker appears when he does his inhibited model of the hip-lock, arm wiggle-and-wave dance strikes all the Dodgers do when they attain base.

Tucker just hasn’t seemed like a true blue Dodger yet; he hasn’t been ready to cut free — particularly not right here in L.A.

Brandon Gomes, Dodgers government president and normal supervisor, helps new signee Kyle Tucker put on a Dodgers jersey during a news convention at Dodger Stadium on Jan. 21.

(Ronaldo Bolaños/Los Angeles Times)

After going 0-for-4 in Friday’s 5-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates, Tucker is hitting .186 with a .552 OPS at Dodger Stadium. He went 0-for-19 in the Dodgers’ last homestand, when even a recreation off did nothing to unscramble his thoughts.

Overall, he’s had it tough in the outfield too, where Statcast’s Fielding Run Value (FRV) measuring a participant’s general defensive worth has him rated 96th of 97 proper fielders this season.

At current, it doesn’t help that Tucker is one of two high-profile Dodger free-agent busts-so-far.

All-Star nearer Edwin Díaz has blown 4 saves while saving just seven video games this season in between stints on the injured listing — Tucker and Díaz, insult to injury. For the high-high price of a mixed $309 million.

Still, the Dodgers are 78-51. They have the second-best document in baseball, with two fewer wins than the Milwaukee Brewers.

And on the street, Tucker has given the Dodgers more of their money’s value, hitting.272 with a .820 OPS.

So after Wednesday’s two-hit recreation to close out a sweep in Colorado on Wednesday, Tucker got here home and tried the slump-busting tactic of taking batting observe outdoors on the sector Friday for the first as a Dodger.

“Just trying to put up good swings tonight, good at-bats,” he said. “Just trying to move guys over, get guys in, do my part to try to win.”

The crowd participated too Friday, giving Tucker ovations more befitting a hitter on a heater than one on ice each time he stepped to the plate, where he put up a battle all evening.

He noticed 31 pitches, walked and hit into a Tenth-inning fielder’s selection that moved Kiké Hernández to third base before he scored on Tommy Edman’s walk-off single.

Moral victories for $240 million, Alex? That’s not what the Dodgers bargained for.

But they’ll take it.

“I loved his at-bats,” said Roberts after Friday’s victory, choosing up where the Dodgers’ crowd left off. “That’s one of the things I’m going to make sure I do, is encourage him.”

Because one magic second in October will make it all value it.