Teoscar Hernandez is the kind of trade candidate who makes sense for a contender and a cost-conscious club alike. He’s productive enough to matter, expensive enough to spark interest, and blocked enough in Los Angeles that the Dodgers could decide the timing is right to move him this winter.
The 2026 season left Hernandez in a familiar middle ground. He was better than he was in 2023, but not nearly as sharp as the monster 2024 campaign that helped earn him a three-year, $66MM deal from the Dodgers.
He batted .256/.308/.441 with 41 homers over 1037 plate appearances since Opening Day 2025, good for a 105 wRC+. This year, his batting average and walk rate both improved from 2025, but his power dipped.
The overall result was still a solid 110 wRC+ entering his age-34 season.
There was a stretch this year when it looked like Hernandez might be headed for a stronger finish. A hamstring strain knocked him out from the end of May to the end of June, but before that injury he had been swinging the bat well.
When he came back, the production vanished for two months. Only after going back to his old batting stance did he start to look more like himself again, and he closed the regular season with a 1.015 OPS over his final 104 plate appearances.
That didn’t carry cleanly into October, though, as he cooled off in the playoffs.
For all the numbers, the real reason Hernandez is in the conversation is the Dodgers’ outfield depth. Josue De Paula made his MLB debut this season and flashed immediately, putting up a 1.081 OPS in his first 41 plate appearances.
He also walked twice in three pinch-hit plate appearances during the postseason. The Dodgers were aggressive enough to bring him up straight from Double-A, and while he could begin 2027 in Triple-A Oklahoma City, he doesn’t look like someone who has much left to prove against minor league pitching.
That creates a straightforward roster squeeze. Evaluators are still split on De Paula’s defense in the outfield, and a future move to designated hitter is possible.
But Shohei Ohtani is locked into the DH spot and Kyle Tucker is in right field, which leaves left field as the obvious place for De Paula to get a real shot. A Hernandez-De Paula platoon could work, but for a loaded Dodgers roster, it doesn’t look like the most efficient way to deploy those at-bats.
The rest of the lineup only tightens the squeeze. Ohtani, Tucker, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Will Smith, Andy Pages, and Max Muncy give Los Angeles a mostly set everyday group.
Second base is the one spot with a little more uncertainty, though Tommy Edman is the favorite there and is signed through at least 2029, with Hyeseong Kim and Alex Freeland also in the mix. Muncy is in the final guaranteed year of his deal and could also draw trade talk, but he has a longer track record with the organization than Hernandez.
That depth is why Hernandez’s 2028 club option looks unlikely to be exercised. Los Angeles could decide this winter that moving him is the cleaner way to create room and address other needs. There was already some buzz about a Hernandez trade last offseason, though GM Brandon Gomes and manager Dave Roberts pushed back on how serious that speculation was.
Hernandez’s profile hasn’t changed much over 11 MLB seasons. He strikes out a lot, doesn’t walk much, and remains a below-average defender in either corner outfield spot, even with a strong arm.
At the same time, he still hits the ball hard and produces solid barrel rates, and there’s a case that the power drop this season was tied to the stance change and possibly the lingering effects of the hamstring issue. A club without a locked-in DH could also make sense for him, since it would allow for more partial rest days.
The money matters too, and not in a way that makes Hernandez hard to move. He is due $14.5MM in 2027, with $8MM deferred until at least 2031.
Once you factor in the $6.5MM buyout on the 2028 option, the price tag for next season comes out to $13MM. That’s a manageable number for a 34-year-old bat coming off a 110 wRC+ season, and it means the Dodgers probably wouldn’t need to eat salary to make a deal work.
That kind of cost opens the door beyond the usual big-spender suspects. Clubs that don’t like the free-agent outfield market, or don’t want to pay the asking prices for names such as Randy Arozarena, Seiya Suzuki, or Teruaki Sato, could take a look.
The Mariners fit on paper, though a reunion after Hernandez’s 2023 season may not be appealing. The Padres, Giants, and Diamondbacks need outfield help, but probably won’t be eager to negotiate with a division rival.
Elsewhere, the Braves, Phillies, Guardians, Blue Jays, Orioles, Royals, White Sox, Twins, Astros, Rangers, Reds, and Cubs could all be looking for corner outfield or DH production this offseason. And as the winter market develops, more teams could find themselves in that same hunt.
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