Tucker passed through waivers unclaimed and will head back out onto the open market. The 33-year-old journeyman outfielder hasn’t appeared in the majors since the 2018 campaign. He was added to San Diego’s 40-man roster back in June, but never wound up getting back to the big leagues.

The Padres needed to free up room for all of their new acquisitions after Tuesday’s trade deadline and Tucker apparently wasn’t in the plans. The 33-year-old has impressed at Triple-A El Paso this season — hitting .293/.433/.565 with 11 homers and 40 RBI in 240 plate appearances. It seems like there should be teams willing to take a shot on him on waivers.

Tucker had an opt-out in his minor league contract looming, and the Padres didn't want to risk losing him to free agency. He'll presumably get a chance in San Diego once he's fully healthy again.

Tucker, who spent some time in Korea, is making a case to return to the majors for the first time since 2018. He's batting .368 with 10 homers and more walks (31) than strikeouts (27) in 172 plate appearances for El Paso. It probably should be noted that he is taking advantage of a very friendly offensive environment; he has 18 extra-base hits in 20 games at home and five extra-base hits in 20 games elsewhere.