The Los Angeles Dodgers’ weekend series against the Toronto Blue Jays largely centered around Shohei Ohtani amid false reports that he was close to signing during the offseason, but it also marked the return of Teoscar Hernández, who spent six seasons north of the border.
Hernández was a productive bat for the Blue Jays, but the team traded him to the Seattle Mariners prior to the start of the 2023 season. After a season of extreme splits, he signed a one-year, $23.5 million contract with the Dodgers for 2024.
Hernández had a somewhat weak market, but there were a few teams interested in his services. One of those clubs was the Blue Jays, but decided not to match what the Dodgers offered Hernández, via Shi Davidi of Sportsnet:
“At the beginning, they said to not forget about them. Obviously when we exchanged numbers and years and all that stuff, they said they could not go that far. That was about it.”
After Ohtani and Hernández turned down the Blue Jays, the team went on to re-sign Kevin Kiermaier while also making a few modest additions in Justin Turner and Isiah Kiner-Falefa.
As for the Dodgers, they have certainly benefited from Hernández choosing to sign with them. He is in the midst of a bounce-back season, batting .266/.333/.477 with five doubles, six home runs and 30 RBI through 29 games.
Teoscar Hernández signed for chance to win World Series
Hernández explained that he signed with L.A. over other interested teams for a chance to win the World Series and test free agency again next year.
“There weren’t that many choices in the market this offseason,” Hernández said. “Obviously, we want to know how the market is right now and how teams are approaching all the players and all the free agents.
“And for me, it wasn’t hard to make the decision to go to the Dodgers, because I know going to the organization is going to give me more experience.
“It’s going to give me the things that I want in this free agency because I wanted to go to a team that can compete and can be in the playoffs and a good team and a good organization that makes me a better player. So that’s one of the biggest reasons why I signed with the Dodgers.”
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