Teoscar Hernandez and trade deadline pickup Jack Flaherty are heading to free agency after playing major roles in the Dodgers’ World Series triumph, and both players told reporters (including MLB.com’s Juan Toribio and SportsNet LA’s David Vassegh) that they would like to return to Los Angeles for an encore.
“My hopes are really high. Like I’ve said before, the Dodgers are the priority, obviously,” Hernandez said. “I’m going to do everything in my power to come back….I want us to be here. I want us to be part of this. I have so many good memories here. I’ve learned a lot as a player, as a person. It feels great to be part of this.”
“I love this city. I never want to leave,” Flaherty told Vassegh, with the words perhaps carrying a bit of extra weight since Flaherty was born in Burbank and grew up in Los Angeles. This doesn’t necessarily mean that Flaherty would give the Dodgers a hometown discount, though naturally playing close to home gives the Dodgers (and theoretically the Angels) an extra edge that other potential free-agent suitors can’t match.
It isn’t surprising to hear players on any team (whether world champions or not) express an open desire to re-sign with their current teams, and feelings could change as the free agent market develops. Of course, winning a title again underlines the fact that L.A. should be a contending team for years to come, giving the Dodgers even more flexibility in picking and choosing how they’ll construct their 2025 roster.
Re-signing Hernandez would bring another big bat back into the lineup and check off the left field question mark in one fell swoop. Though the slugger is entering his age-32 season, he is also coming off one of the best years of his nine MLB seasons, and he further showed his value with a big playoff performance. On the flip side, Hernandez would surely reject a qualifying offer, putting the Dodgers in line for a compensatory draft pick if Hernandez signed elsewhere. If Los Angeles wanted to give Andy Pages more playing time in left field or perhaps keep the position open for another outfielder (even a big name like Juan Soto), the Dodgers could opt to walk away from Hernandez and just view their one-year alliance as a total win for both parties.
Both Hernandez and Flaherty were looking to bounce back after shaky 2024 seasons, and Flaherty likewise answered some critics by posting a 3.17 ERA across 162 combined regular-season innings with the Tigers and Dodgers. The right-hander’s postseason performance was a lot more inconsistent, yet Flaherty was important simply because he was a proper starting pitcher within the injury-ravaged Dodgers’ staff. On paper, most of Los Angeles’ injured pitchers will be ready to go by Opening Day 2025, yet the team will surely look to solidify this group with at least one other starter to provide some durability as well as quality innings.
Clayton Kershaw is one of those pitchers with a murky health status, as the longtime Dodger ace is set to undergo a pair of surgeries on his left knee and toe. Kershaw pitched only 30 regular-season innings in 2024 due to bone spurs in his toe, his recovery from a shoulder surgery from last November, and this heretofore unknown torn meniscus in his left knee.
The southpaw has already said he is planning to pitch in 2025, and reiterated to The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya and other reporters that “I’ll be back, somehow” for an 18th season with the Dodgers. This might not necessarily come to pass, however, just by Kershaw exercising his $10MM player option for 2025, as Kershaw might also look to work out a new contract with L.A. that would presumably give both gives some flexibility for the future. Several of the Dodgers’ extensions in recent years have involved tacking an extra option year or two onto a shorter-term deal, so it seems quite possible the club could again explore such a contract with Kershaw.
In other Dodger news, the end of the playoffs also acts as the time when players traditionally come clean about any hidden injuries they’ve been playing through in October. It was already known that Freddie Freeman was playing despite an ankle sprain and bone bruise, yet ESPN’s Jeff Passan writes that Freeman also suffered broken costal cartilage in his rib while taking batting practice just prior to the start of the Dodgers’ NLDS matchup with the Padres.
The first baseman still played in four of the five games in that series as well as four of the Dodgers’ six NLCS games with the Mets, though Freeman was hitting only .219/.242/.219 in his first 33 playoff plate appearances. The four days’ off between the end of the NLCS and the start of the World Series provided Freeman with a chance to fully rest and reset, and he somewhat miraculously felt much better heading into Game 1, when he kicked off his World Series MVP performance.
The Dodgers proved that with enough money you can fight through any adversity that life throws your way. What a lesson for all of us. An inspiration to children everywhere.
They all have enough money. The Dodgers just choose to spend it.
If everyone else chose to spend it then how would the Dodgers be able to spend what they spent?
It doesn’t add up chief.
And no they all don’t have “enough” money. Some teams have more money than others.
You ever watch college football? When Alabama plays North Dakota State do you think thats a fair contest?
Blackpink in the area
Some teams have more money than others.
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Is this some new type of sociology class that they teach in college, because I don’t get it. It should be obvious, and I mean extremely obvious, that teams like LAD and the NYY have at least 3x the free cash slow as teams And teams like Philly, SD, etc., have at least double.
How is it that some people don’t understand the math?
Yeah Joe I wonder why people can’t see this. It’s like saying a small business can compete with Amazon and Walmart. They cant it’s impossible. And when the small business fails inevitably are we to blame them and not the system we created? I think not.
Yes, all owners have money, but very few have the revenue stream of the Dodgers, Yankees and Phillies. Hate to keep defending cheap owners, but why would an owner willingly blow tons of money to improve the team when there’s still a likely chance it doesn’t work out (Mets)? The rich got there by being smart with their money.
They got those revenue streams by… spoiler alert: spending money.
Obviously you have to also use your brain, but the point is that a brain and a serious cash investment is something all 27 teams with actual fan bases can do (not the As and not Florida sorry)
If 27 teams spent like the Dodgers that won’t work out because only 1 team can win it all. If other teams raised their payrolls the Dodgers would probably just raise theirs more.
The system is broken guys. I don’t know who is cheering for this.
Black,
The Dodgers have one “real” World Series since 1988 according to people like you despite their spending.
Just say this is the new “real” World Series or “playoff choker” argument since the Dodgers just shoved that you know where.
Keep reaching and crying.
“Spending money..serious cash investment”…Remember when the “Guggenheim” group(Mark Walters) first bought the Dodgers?
The first thing they did was to pump (tens of) MILLIONS upon millions of dollars into the team. People thought they were nuts and had overpaid to acquire the team.
The put so much money on the line that even Uber rich Mets owner Steve Cohen declined to match their bid. It always takes money to make money.
Anyone who thinks 2020 didn’t count shouldn’t be allowed to comment anymore. A real season took place same rules for all teams 1 team came out on top the Dodgers
People have higher payrolls guy!
No, don’t you get it!? Every year win the Dodgers lost in the post season, people said, “the regular season doesn’t matter. Only the postseason. But then in 2020, for some reason it was all about the regular season. Cry babies just want to hate and pretend that a Pirates/A’s World Series would be fun to watch and good for the league
amazing larry
They all have enough money.
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ROTFLMAO!!!
All the teams have enough money to sign a billion $$$ worth of players? Seriously LOL!
Even if they did, and they don’t, how would all teams be able to spend a billion dollars? It doesn’t work like that.
As opposed to you, an Internet troll who is inspiring to absolutely no one, ever.
Direct your salt to MLB who created the system, not the team admirably doing everything possible within that broken system to win. We all wish our teams operated both a smart scouting/drafting/analytics system AND had an owner who didn’t flinch at the luxury tax.
Capitalism allows giant corporations to destroy small businesses and then not pay taxes on the billions they make. Yes the system is broken but I will go ahead and blame the participants too.
I don’t wish my team did what the Dodgers did. I would feel ashamed.
Maybe look at how many of their players are good trades and reasonable contracts and smart drafting.
We all wish our teams operated both a smart scouting/drafting/analytics system AND had an owner who didn’t flinch at the luxury tax.
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But just like the real world, that is never going to happen. It’s impossible for everyone to have the same level of competence and the same level of spending.
What is wrong with admitting that we have a world of haves and have-nots? Or ‘have more’ and ‘have less’?
It’s getting so unbalanced that maybe, instead of three AL and NL divisions, the teams should be divided by spending. One division would have the Dodgers, Mets, Phillies, SD, Atlanta and the nyy. The next would have teams like SF, AZ, Houston, etc. After that would be teams who don’t spend a lot but spend wisely, like Cleveland. The fourth and bottom dwellers division would be teams whose owners have money but refuse to spend it, like the CHW and the A’s. (I know my list need some weeks, but you get the idea.) The top three divisions would have their own PO between each other while the fourth division, well, they should just go home.
Exactly. The MLB finance system does several, very important things (with predictable outcomes) that nobody really wants to discuss.
First, it rewards failure. The worst performers get the highest draft picks — a cash equivalent. Second, it guarantees profitability for the smaller market teams through CBT shares, which they have no obligation to spend, and they get that money whether or not they put out a watchable product for their fans. Third, the complaints about larger market team spending are kind of ironic. Not only does this spending finance the smaller market teams, the bigger spenders are actually taking the larger risks.
To meaningfully change these outcomes, MLB would have to divide the revenue from the game into 30 equal shares and reward the successful teams financially. This will never happen, if only because even the smaller market teams are happy with a system that allows them to remain profitable with taking little or no risk.
Is this good for the fans in those cities, or the game as whole from a fan point of view? Of course not, but MLB is business with 30 owners and they decide collectively how best to maximize their profitability — and this is the system they’ve made to do that very thing. They ain’t asking us what we think. But we can at least make the effort to understand what is going on and why.
Big spenders finance the small market teams????
Nonsense. That’s totally nonsense. Without all the other teams there is no league at all. To act as if the Dodgers and Yankees are supporting the league is nonsense. They need those other teams to exist otherwise it would be a 4 team league.
Salary cap and salary floor. That’s what is needed.
Like I said, we can at least make the effort. Some of us do, at least. Clearly you are not one of those.
They will add to that inspiration when LA surprises no one and signs Juan Soto and Max Fried.
Reminiscent of The Onion headline from 21 years ago: theonion.com/yankees-ensure-2003-pennant-by-signin…
There is still plenty of talent to go around. In fact, as a RS fan, I hope all the focus is on those two, and that we can sneak in and grab Sasaki & Bieber.
The Dodgers did not even have the highest payroll. You just hate them because they know how to spend it and aren’t giving it to 40 year old pitchers who aren’t even on the team like the Mets.
I always wonder why normal people defend capitalism. It’s like voting republican. Unless you are mega rich it doesn’t make any sense. Perhaps you think that will be you one day but it won’t. You aren’t like them.
found the guy in debt from student loans and expects the country to bail him out
“Defend capitalism..It’s like voting Republican”…Your points would make more sense if you leftys didn’t align yourself with Hollywood, MSM, Silicon Valley and the agenda of America’s biggest capitalistic corporations.
I don’t know what I keep typing that requires moderation.
I am not a lefty. You made that up.
Money does not guarantee a title. Dodgers also have a deep farm. Decision making is excellent e.g., bringing in Flaherty and Edman. It’s a tired complaint lacking critical thinking.
Money doesn’t guarantee a title. But prior to the season the Dodgers were the favorites and many teams had no chance whatsoever to compete. And that’s exactly how it played out.
Some idiot mentioned student debt but apparently has me on mute so I can’t reply to him.
The problem with college is the cost and the ease of which people allow you to take loans out. Eliminating debt doesn’t solve the actual problem. Colleges are crooked as can be.
College doesn’t work with capitalism.
The Cardinals spent 189m (more than 19 teams) and won 83 games.
Hard to give too much credence to a Cards fan whining about the Dodgers in an unjust world.
The Cardinals had the 11th highest payroll and finished with the 16th best record i believe. That doesn’t exactly scream colossal faulilure.
How much did the Dodgers spend? Remind me again.
Cry, baby. Cry! Cry! The Dodgers were 4th in the league this year. And I bet you are cool with the Phillies and Padres though. Also, look at the Rangers last year; literally their entire staff were free agent pick ups, along with Seager and Semien. But they are a cute, underdog story, right!?
The Rangers bought a championship but it was the first one in their existence so no I don’t look at it the same way.
The Dodgers weren’t 4th in anything you made that up.
The system is broken. Why would anyone support what’s going on now?
Jealousy abounds!
If Freeman puts up 3 to 4 more good years he will be HOF bound.
@Texas Outlaw
If one considers the leniency for HOF inclusion these days, and perhaps even if you don’t. he’s likely already there. He pretty much checks all the perceived boxes.
Yep. He’s already produced 5 more WAR than Artificially Big Papi and he’s done it without roids.
Now that the bar is set so freaking low by Ortiz you can justify putting any good player in.
Gotta love how every big free agent says they would like to come back to their current team,yet very few actually do.
Cheap Billionaire owners are a dime a dozen! Don’t cry about the deferments, all teams can do the same, it’s not against any rule! Dodgers are a fine tuned organization and people want to pound on them because they invest in their product and want to continually improve it! Go cry a river elsewhere!
Agree. But, unsurprisingly, haters are just gonna hate no matter the reason.
I do want the Dodgers to resign Teo, Buehler, Treinen and Kiki. Forget Soto. He’s a Boros client. Also need more pitching as we’ve learned over the last three years that pitchers get injured.
Great post. I agree. They just won it without Soto. With their lineup construction, they don’t need him. Pitching, pitching, pitching.
Both statements are true. The Dodgers are well run and they have a massive revenue advantage.
To dismiss either is foolish.
Yeah back when they hired Magic Johnson they spent like idiots but they still spent a ton. Ever since they hired Friedman now they still spend like idiots but they actually make good decisions too.
Nice to see guys like Freeman grinding through injuries and being productive members of a team. Don’t see that too often nowadays with guys constantly on the injured list because they had a bad sleep last night. Get over your drama and get out there to play 162 games at least.
Teoscar is a very tough case. He was exactly what was needed this season and they overpaid to get him. With Edman in place and Pages showing at least some potential, the need for a RH outfield bat is a lot less next season. I hope they tell him, we are absolutely not signing you for term, the QO is the only offer you will get, you decide how much you like playing here.
4.3 bWAR, 137 OPS+, 134 wRC+. The Dodgers got a bargain for his production.
They were working Dalton Rushing out in LF last season in the minor leagues. Everything I’ve read, and interview I’ve heard, says that he’s ready for a big league opportunity. This could play into what they do/offer Teoscar.
I agree,Rushing was crushing AAA pitching and he’s a switch hitter as well. With Smith signing a ten year extension there was no room for him at catcher except for backup but want his bat in the lineup hence the move to left field. When Smith needs rest he will fill in at catcher. Best of both worlds, Teo walking IMO.
It’s pretty difficult to call a one-year contract an overpay. By definition this is a team-friendly contract, especially since he had multiyear offers from other teams.
After his inconsistant postseason, I think Flaherty is at the bottom of the top group of 4 FA starters. If the Dodgers go that route I think they aim higher, Fried maybe.
I don’t think they bring Flaherty back either. Burnes and Fried are both interesting pieces.
Both are 30 years old. Each had a WAR of about 3.5 last year. They have very similar numbers so far for their careers. Both have been relatively healthy. They are both SoCal guys too. If you had to choose, which route would you go? The lefty or the righty?
I personally would take Burnes
You would take Burnes the top free agent pitcher this year. WOW what a shock
You’re right, Flaherty was basically Jekyl/Hyde, up and down in his starts, just to inconsistent to resign, better options out there, Flaherty walks!
“Aim higher, Fried maybe”..Flaherty’s a #3. Somebody will probably make him a nice 3 year offer, but most likely it won’t be the Dodgers. The Dodgers have pitchers as good as he on the IL. I can see Fried or Snell going to the Dodgers.
My guess is the Dodgers would be more interested in Flaherty than Hernandez. They need every starting pitcher they can find. But we’ll see.
I also expect L.A. to splat a little next year. Their +156 run diff was impressive but not otherworldly. And the core will be one year older. Maybe make the playoffs with a quick exit. (I know, that’s an old story for the Dodgers.)
If they get Soto, which I don’t think will happen, their odds would obviously get better. Though Soto’s numbers probably wouldn’t look as gaudy in Dodger Stadium, and he wouldn’t have nearly the motivation he did in his walk year.
Dodgers going to let Flaherty who was up and down with his performances walk. Teoscar who I really like is going into his age 32 season, Dodgers will let him walk as well. Dodgers will take that money and sign Willy Adames because they need a shortstop and also sign a top of rotation type pitcher. Forget Soto, he ain’t coming and is not worth the money they talking about!
Of course money matters , but don’t ignore the Dodgers are extremely well ran. That’s the top reason for their success.