Soto Slips Away: Dodgers Shift Focus to $75 Million Reunion
The Los Angeles Dodgers are still in the Juan Soto sweepstakes, but it’s unclear how serious their pursuit is at this stage.
With five teams still in the running for the superstar outfielder, the Dodgers are reportedly the only contender yet to offer a $700 million contract. It’s reasonable, given that they already have Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, and countless others on massive contracts.
At a certain point, a team can have too many superstars, and that may be the case with Soto and the Dodgers. But LA still needs good hitters to complement their trio of future Hall of Famers, and they already had the perfect sidekick batting cleanup for them this past season.
Outfielder Teoscar Hernández, who made his second career All-Star team in his one and only season as a Dodger, is now a free agent. While he won’t cost Soto money (Jim Bowden of The Athletic projects him for a $75 million deal), the Dodgers will likely be facing stiff competition for his services.
However, Hernández also has professed his desire to return, and that’s what one writer recently predicted would play out. David Lennon of Newsday forecasted a Hernández-Dodgers reunion in a recent free agency preview.
“He’ll certainly do better than the one-year, $23 million deal that landed him with the Dodgers last season, and Hernandez was too valuable for the world champs to let him go elsewhere this winter,” Lennon said. “Plus, who would willingly want to leave Chavez Ravine these days?”
It’s easy to see why Hernández would want to come back–he was awesome as a Dodger. He set new career-highs in home runs (33) and OPS+ (137), while making the All-Star Game, winning the Home Run Derby, and taking home his first World Series ring.
Hernández going back to the Dodgers has always made the most sense. But he’s still a hot commodity, so if LA wants to make this prediction come true, they’ll have to act decisively in the immediate aftermath of Soto’s decision.
