Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
With Juan Soto reportedly agreeing his record-breaking deal with the Mets on Sunday night, the pipedream of Soto in LA has ended. It was always a longshot to begin with.
With the Winter Meetings underway and the Dodgers having already made three separate moves — Blake Snell, Michael Conforto, Blake Treinen — they still have some items on their shopping list. Japanese sensation Roki Sasaki comes to mind. He was officially posted today, but he won’t be signing with a team until next month. In the meantime, the primary focus should be on Teoscar Hernandez.
Hernandez, 32, is coming off a strong campaign with LA that saw him hit .272/.339/.501 with a 134 wRC+ and providing much-needed thump from the right side. He openly expressed his desire to return to the Dodgers after they won the World Series, so it seems like a no-brainer at this point, right? Well, with both the Red Sox and Yankees losing out on Soto, they have expressed interested in Hernandez. Boston was interested in him last offseason, but it didn’t want to give him a 3-year deal. Instead, Hernandez signed a 1-year, $23.5 million deal that paid off handsomely for both Hernandez and LA.
Now, it is being reported that there’s a “gap” in the negotiations with the Dodgers.
“The Dodgers and Hernández have been in negotiations for the past few weeks but have been unable to bridge the gap, sources familiar with the process have said.”
That’s dumb. If the Dodgers were willing to pay more than $600 million for Soto, they can pony up a little more scratch to bring back an integral part of the 2024 championship team. Either that or give him the extra year. Just make it work.
Let’s just consider, for a moment, that Hernandez doesn’t return (seems inconceivable, but stick with me), then who do the Dodgers target to replace Hernandez’s production? Let’s look at some options.
Internal
Pages is basically it. Sure, the Dodgers have catcher Dalton Rushing who is experimenting in left field to forge a path to playing time in LA, but with Conforto signing, that plan might be shelved (or, at least, put on the back burner). Pages made his debut last season and show some flashes of his Top 100 prospect status, but he also looked overmatched at times. It all panned out to see him hit .248/.305/.407 with a league-average 100 wRC+. I’m not sure he’s ready to pickup the offensive slack that would be there if Hernandez doesn’t return. He would be OK against left-handed pitching, though, as his 157 wRC+ against southpaws was slightly better than Teo’s 154 mark.
Free agents
A few years ago, Carlson looked like a future stalworth for the Cardinals. Now, he was non-tendered by the Rays after they acquired him at the 2024 trade deadline. If the Rays didn’t want an affordable guy able to play center field (even after trading Jose Siri), then I’m not sure what the Dodgers can do with him. He’s a switch-hitter who has handled lefties (.795 OPS) much better than righties in his career (.655 OPS). He’s only 26 years old, so the “temptation could be there “we can fix him” temptation could be there, but he wouldn’t be the first choice on my list to replace Hernandez.
Grichuk might be the best and most logical Hernandez replacement. The 33-year-old — who was drafted one spot ahead of Mike Trout in 2009 — was pretty good for the Diamondbacks last season. He hit .291/.348/.548 with a 139 wRC+. Granted, he only appeared in 106 games, but when he was in there, he was good. He also pummeled lefties to the tune of .319/.386/.528, 151 wRC+. And before people scream that he benefited from hitting at Chase Field, he had a 151 wRC+ and a 128 wRC+ on the road. He’s also a better defensive option than Hernandez in right field.
A surprising non-tender by the Braves, Laureano, 30, hit .259/.311/.437 with a 108 wRC+ in his best season since 2021. He also hit lefties well at .305/.343/.526 with a 139 wRC+. He’s a free-swinger, perhaps too free for the Dodgers’ liking, as his 4.9 BB% and 31.1 K% don’t really fit the Dodgers’ M.O., but he’s perhaps the best defensive outfielder on this list.
It seems the Dodgers have been flirting with the idea of Pham for years. It’s weird because he hasn’t actually been that good since 2019 (123 wRC+). In fact, his 3.4 fWAR in 2019 is equal to his total fWAR from 2020-24. He’s not very durable and a bit of a character in the clubhouse, but there’s a reason he keeps hanging around. His career .266/.372/.445, 125 wRC+ against lefties might be why. With Farhan Zaidi (probably) coming back, I don’t think he’d be allowed in any team fantasy football leagues.
A Dodger in 2022, Pillar looked to be winding down his career. Instead, the 35-year-old is hoping to play again in 2025. While he’s detrimental against right-handed pitching, he’s still strong against lefties. He hit .310/.352/.500 with a 139 WRC+ against them last season, so he can still swing it a bit. He’d be one of the last options, as there isn’t a ton of upside here.
Trades
Robert Jr. has been rumored to be available for a year-plus now, and the White Sox might finally pull the trigger on moving him. He’s often hurt, but the talent is undeniable. He’s coming off a disappointing, injury-riddled season that saw him hit just .224/.278/.379 with an 84 wRC+. This is just a season after hitting .264/.315/.542 with a 128 wRC+. The 27-year-old struggled against lefties last season (.194/.299/.269, 66 wRC+), but from 2020-23, he destroyed southpaws to the tune of .336/.396/.590, 167 wRC+. It seems 2024 was a single-season aberration. If the Dodgers were to trade for Robert, it’d be closer to their price than the White Sox’s high asking price. I don’t see it happening.
Suzuki, 30, is a surprisingly available player this offseason. It might depend on trading old fried Cody Bellinger, but Suzuki would be an intriguing addition to the mix. He hit .283/.366/.482 with a career-best 138 wRC+ in 2024. Against lefties, he hit .274/.384/.444 with a 134 wRC+. If he were brought in, he’d be a full-timer in the vein of Hernandez. He has some slight durability concerns, but he should be available enough to make his production count.
Look, I know Arte Moreno would almost certainly not let this happen. But let’s just dream on it for a minute. Trout, 33, is on his way to Cooperstown five years after he hangs up his cleats, and that’s even with him averaging just 66.5 games played per year since 2021. What’s fun is in the last four years, he has a .276/.376/.575 batting line with a 160 wRC+. The hope would be that Trout could play 100-120 games and be healthy for the postseason. At $35.45 million for the next six years ($212.7 million total), that might be a bit too much for even the Dodgers to stomach. But man, would it ever be fun if Trout were reunited with Shohei Ohtani? It’d give Trout a legitimate look at the postseason, if healthy. I almost want this to happen more than anything else the rest of this offseason.
OK, onto the more realistic Angel trade target. Ward, 30, isn’t a free agent until after the 2026 season and hasn’t played right field since 2022 (-7 DRS for his career), but he hits lefties well and would be a palatable replacement for Hernandez. He hit .246/.323/.426 with a 111 wRC+ overall. Against lefties, he hit .325/.377/.496 with a 146 wRC+. He’s not unplayable against righties and the cost acquisition would be less than any of the other trade targets listed.
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Here’s how I’d rank them in terms realism and fit.
- Grichuk
- Ward
- Suzuki
- Laureano
- Robert Jr.
- Carlson
- Pillar
- Pham
- Trout
Grichuk checks all the boxes and could make the most sense while benig the most realistic. Ward is not the best overall option, but he might be the among the best of the realistic options. Suzuki would have a chance to be an upgrade over Hernandez, while guys like Laureano, Carlson and Pillar would be a more cost-effective options. Robert would be a bigger risk-reward situation than anyone listed. Trout is the dream with the biggest reward with the most financial risk, but also the most unrealistic.
The easiest solution here is to just bring back Hernandez, and it’s the option I’d most like to see. While it’d be heartbreaking to see him playing elsewhere, there are some solid options to replace him, should that come to fruition.
