SAN ANTONIO — The final time Teoscar Hernández gazed out on the crowd at Dodger Stadium this season, the veteran outfielder nearly broke down crying.
“I just want to say thank you,” Hernández mentioned in the course of the Dodgers’ World Sequence celebration at Chavez Ravine final Friday, having performed a vital function within the membership’s first full-season championship since 1988.
Hernández then stopped, getting choked up with emotion. Earlier than him, greater than 40,000 followers started roaring in appreciation.
“I play this game to win,” Hernández continued, the serenading from the stands amplifying with each phrase. “And the Dodgers gave me the opportunity to come here, so I could help this organization, this team, these people, this city, win a championship. You guys made this dream come true. Thank you for making me a World champion.”
If not for Hernández, the Dodgers may not have had a championship to have a good time.
After signing a one-year, $23.5 million contract with the membership final offseason, he grew to become one of the vital necessary items of their indomitable lineup, racking up 33 residence runs and 99 RBIs within the common season, plus quite a few key hits — together with his score-tying, two-run double in Recreation 5 of the World Sequence — throughout their postseason run to a title.
Per week later, Hernández is again on the free-agent market, the place he shall be a extra coveted commodity than final winter following his resurgent 2024 efficiency.
And because the Dodgers consider their plans for this winter, whether or not or not they keep him might be a key determinant to all the offseason.
As common supervisor Brandon Gomes acknowledged Wednesday, the membership’s greatest concentrate on offense this winter is bolstering the outfield. That was true even earlier than Gomes introduced that proper fielder Mookie Betts will seemingly transfer again to the infield subsequent 12 months. Now, it’s a obtrusive want with few apparent potential options.
At present, the Dodgers don’t have a longtime on a regular basis outfielder on their roster, with solely platoon bats similar to Andy Pages, Chris Taylor and James Outman below membership management for subsequent season.
The crew might shift Tommy Edman, who noticed most of his motion this October at shortstop, to an on a regular basis function in heart subject. The Dodgers’ high prospect, catcher Dalton Speeding, also can present depth after ending this previous season enjoying left subject in triple-A.
However in 2024, a lot of the crew’s offensive success revolved across the constant, clutch hitting supplied by Hernández.
And — barring a run at free-agent celebrity Juan Soto — it might be a wrestle for the Dodgers to seek out interesting alternate options in the event that they don’t deliver Hernández again.
“Teo was a huge part of what we accomplished this year,” Gomes mentioned Wednesday, at Main League Baseball’s common supervisor conferences. “On the field, you could see it very clearly. Huge impact in the clubhouse with younger guys, his energy. So we’ll have conversations with Teo and his group ASAP.”
The 32-year-old Dominican Republic native relished his first season with the group, wherein he earned his second All-Star choice, grew to become the membership’s first Dwelling Run Derby winner, and posted the second-highest batting common (.272) and OPS (.840) of his nine-year profession.
Within the clubhouse, he carved out an necessary management function, forming bonds with everybody from Shohei Ohtani (Hernández was among the many first Dodgers gamers to strike a relationship with the $700 million star in spring coaching) to youthful faces like Pages (whom Hernández took below his wing in the course of the rookie’s stable debut season).
And after enjoying for 3 groups over the past three seasons, Hernández is hopeful of discovering stability within the Southland, telling reporters after Friday’s stadium celebration that his “hopes are really high” of re-signing with the Dodgers this winter.
“The Dodgers are the priority, obviously,” he mentioned. “I’m going to do everything in my power to come back.”
The query now’s whether or not the Dodgers really feel as strongly, and in the event that they’ll be keen to reward him with the three-year contract he’s believed to be looking for.
Within the quick time period, retaining Hernández looks like a no brainer for the Dodgers.
He might transfer full-time to proper subject, his strongest defensive place. He might hold continuity within the lineup, the place he fashioned a potent high 4 with Ohtani, Betts and Freddie Freeman. And he might assist protect the clubhouse tradition that fueled the Dodgers’ October run.
If the crew has any plans to “run it back” with the identical roster core subsequent 12 months — one thing supervisor Dave Roberts and a pair gamers have already hinted they hope to see in 2025 — re-signing Hernández could be a high precedence.
Nonetheless, the Dodgers entrance workplace, which declined to interact in extension talks with Hernandez’s brokers in the course of the common season, additionally accounts for long-term danger in personnel evaluations. And giving a 32-year-old participant who yearly has one of many league’s larger strikeout charges a profitable three-year deal — Hernández is projected to obtain between $60 million-$70 million on the open market — would characterize a break from their typical working process.
But, the danger of shedding Hernández will even issue into their decision-making.
The one higher outfielder on this 12 months’s free-agent class is the 26-year-old Soto. He’s anticipated to set off a bidding battle between the New York Yankees and Mets that may push his price ticket upward of $700 million, a staggering quantity that even the deep-pocketed Dodgers, who signed Ohtani to a heavily-deferred deal final winter, could be cautious of spending once more.
The remainder of the market is headlined by the likes of Anthony Santander, Tyler O’Neill and Jurickson Profar, with different veterans similar to Alex Verdugo, Jesse Winker, Randal Grichuk and Tommy Pham additionally obtainable as lower-cost choices.
The crew might discover the commerce market too — they nonetheless have a extremely touted farm system, and could be tempted to deal second baseman Gavin Lux now that Betts is about to return to the infield — however there aren’t prone to be many influence bats obtainable there, both.
It’s why, because the membership tries to map out its winter plans, Hernández looms as one of many offseason’s most necessary linchpins.
And in the event that they fail to re-sign him, they must defend their championship with out one of many gamers who was most accountable for serving to them win it.
