Dodgers Face Potential Blow: Toescar Hernandez May Join Giant After…

What’s that old saying about an eye for an eye, again?

Tuesday night was a brutal blow for the San Francisco Giants as they found out with the rest of the world that their free-agent ace had signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Blake Snell, the best pitcher in baseball after the All-Star break, inked a fresh five-year, $182 million contract.

There was talk that the Giants could have traded Snell at this season’s trade deadline, but then-president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi came out strongly against the move. Hindsight is always 20/20, but we now know that the Giants lost Snell for nothing and now must face him several times a year.

There’s nothing the Giants can do to rewrite the past, but they can still get revenge on the Dodgers in the future. Perhaps that process starts with taking something of value from the Dodgers in response to the Snell deal.

All-Star left fielder Teoscar Hernández became a Dodgers fan-favorite in 2024, but he’s back on the market this winter. Caleb Moody of Just Baseball recently named the Giants as a top projected destination for Hernández, who the site projected for a four-year, $85 million contract.

“New president of baseball operations Buster Posey could look to get even more aggressive this winter,” Moody said. “Hernández would be a great addition to build on that bit of momentum, as he would address a lot of questions surrounding the Giants outfield and their offense in general.”

“A signing like Hernández would stand to lift San Francisco’s offense out of the place of mediocrity it fell into last season ranking 19th in wRC+ at 101, 19th in OPS at .701 and 20th in AVG at .239.”

Hernández, 32, mashed a career-high 33 home runs in 2024, to accompany an .840 OPS and 137 OPS+. Oracle Park is a notoriously difficult place for power hitters to play, though, so San Francisco may have to pay extra to convince Hernández to take his chances there.

There’s no sugarcoating things: The Giants are up against it in the NL West, with the San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks also projecting to have better rosters in 2025. Signing Hernández would at least be a step in the right direction.