The Los Angeles Dodgers and Teoscar Hernandez have been engaged in a ‘will they, won’t they’ dance since he became a free agent after the season. He made his desire to remain a Dodger crystal clear and they made an offer. But the Hernandez camp didn’t care about the deferred salary and opened the door to other teams’ offers.
Since that point, the two sides have been at an impasse. And Hernandez has garnered a lot of interest on the open market. This has reportedly led the front office to start looking elsewhere to find a right-handed hitter to add to the staff.
Hernández, 32, is seeking a three-year deal between $66 million and $72 million, according to a person briefed on the negotiations. The contract length does not appear to be a point of contention between the parties. The issue is money.
The Dodgers have already added an outfielder — Michael Conforto.
3 Options Dodgers Are Considering To Replace Teoscar Hernandez
According to Ken Rosenthal, “The potential options, according to sources briefed on the team’s discussions, include infielder Ha-Seong Kim in free agency and Chicago Cubs right fielder Seiya Suzuki, Chicago White Sox center fielder Luis Robert Jr. and others in trade,” Rosenthal wrote. “How serious the Dodgers are about those pursuits – and how realistic some of them might be – remains to be seen.”
As manager Dave Roberts put it, replacing Hernandez ‘would be tough.’ Teoscar Hernández enjoyed a productive 2024 season, hitting .272/.339/.501 with 33 home runs, 84 runs scored, and 99 RBIs. None of the options listed by Rosenthal came close to that sort of offensive production.
That said, the signing would aid in filling out the fielding holes, whether that is Kim lending flexibility in the infield or Robert and Suzuki meeting needs in the outfield.
Kim was recently named ‘best fit’ for LA given his versatility, defensive prowess, and offensive upside.