Whit Merrifield needlessly riled up Blue Jays fans with insight on Kyle Tucker’s Dodgers signing

It's been tough to be a Blue Jays fan over the last few years. They've taken on the Giants' previous role as baseball's "bridesmaid but never bride," having missed out on all of Shohei Ohtani, Roki Sasaki, and Kyle Tucker to the Dodgers, who they fell to in brutal fashion in Game 7 of the World Series — at home — despite taking LA all the way to the brink.

The Blue Jays have gotten so close — Ohtani infamously took a bunch of display merch in his meeting with the team, leading them to believe that signing him was a lock, and Tucker visited Toronto very early into his free agency — only to just come up short.

Dodgers fans might feel bad for them if it weren't for all of the whining. "The better team lost the World Series," "the Mets were used more as leverage for Tucker than us," "nothing good ever happens to us."

Former Blue Jay Whit Merrifield just gave Toronto fans even more of a complex last week, when he said in an appearance on 6ix Inning Stretch that Tucker apparently really wanted to sign with the Blue Jays, but the offer from the Dodgers was too good to pass up.

Whit Merrifield's insight into Kyle Tucker's Dodgers decision gives Blue Jays fans even more of a victim complex

The responses that followed have been more of the same: "The Dodgers are ruining baseball," "no one else has the capacity to spend like this." Blah, blah, blah.

The Blue Jays just didn't want to give Tucker more money per year than centerpiece Vladimir Guerrero Jr. That's understandable, but if that's your absolute limit, it's your absolute limit. Don't whine about it when a more lucrative offer is presented and pretend it's "unfair" when a free agent takes it.

If he stays in LA for the duration of his four-year deal, Tucker will make almost 70% of what he could've made in a decade with the Blue Jays in just four years with the Dodgers. If he takes his first opt-out after the 2027 season, he'll be just 31 in a free agent class without great outfield options (unless the Braves decline their club option on Ronald Acuña Jr., which they won't).

The Blue Jays can try again then. But until we get there, they should just stop looking for any reason to be upset.