Teoscar Hernández and Dodgers reach agreement for 66 million dollars, sources
The player confirmed that he will remain with the Californian team through a publication on social networks.
Outfielder Teoscar Hernández and the Los Angeles Dodgers reached a three-year, $66 million contract, sources told AM850, reuniting the standout player in the last World Series with the team he helped capture the championship.
“I’m back,” Hernandez wrote on Instagram.
Almost immediately after the World Series victory, Hernández declared his desire to return to the Dodgers after a mutually successful one-year commitment. Reaching a new mutually acceptable contract took nearly two months, and the Dodgers signed outfielder Michael Conforto and engaged in trade discussions for other outfielders while Hernandez considered other offers.
Finally, the parties reached an agreement that includes a club option of $15 million for the 2028 season, with a buy-out option (rescission) of $6.5 million. $23.5 million will be paid deferred and a $23 million signing bonus was also agreed upon.
Hernandez, 32, signed with the Dodgers for one year and $23.5 million, of which $8.5 million was deferred, after the free agent market valued him too low to sign long-term. He made risk count, hitting .272/.339/.501 with 33 home runs and a career-high 99 RBIs. He helped win the championship with his two-run double in Game 5 of the World Series, which capped the New York Yankees’ nightmare inning, as well as a home run in Game 2 off Carlos Rodón, giving Los Angeles an advantage he would not give up.
Beyond the expected results due to injuries among their pitchers, the Dodgers have spent the winter adding. First came Blake Snell, a two-time NL Cy Young winner, for five years and $182 million. They brought back Blake Treinen, another Game 5 hero, for two years and $22 million. And Conforto hopes to follow Hernandez’s example: go to the game’s most successful franchise on a one-year deal and thrive as many do.
Before arriving in Los Angeles, Hernandez was one of the most consistent outfielders in baseball after not getting full-time at-bats until his age 25 season. Among the 125 hitters with at least 2,500 plate appearances since 2018, Hernandez ranks 17th in home runs, 21st in RBI and 40th in OPS+.
It adds another big bat to a lineup full of them and another body to an outfield combination that includes Conforto, Andy Pagés, Chris Taylor, James Outman and Tommy Edman, who can play center field and shortstop, where the former outfielder and MVP Mookie Betts plans to play every day.
Los Angeles continued to use deferred salaries, in which portions of salaries are paid years later. While most of Los Angeles’ more than $1 billion in deferred money belongs to Shohei Ohtani ($680 million of his $700 million contract is deferred a decade from now, leaving Los Angeles paying about $46 million a year in an escrow account to cover it, other deferred payments also count in the deals of Betts, Snell, Edman, Freddie Freeman and Will Smith.
Players often use deferred money, as well as signing bonuses, to reduce their tax burden, particularly in California, where a lawmaker introduced a bill to close what he called “a dark tax loophole.” Hernandez’s deferrals are not as far behind schedule as Ohtani’s, starting in six years instead of a decade from now.
