Star Predicted To Reunite With Dodgers On Lucrative Three-Year Deal

There has been a lot of drama surrounding the Los Angeles Dodgers following their blockbuster signing of San Francisco Giants ace Blake Snell. A majority of the complaints surround the deferred money that Los Angeles has dealt out, led by Shohei Ohtani and Snell’s contracts. But this deferred money has created the cap space necessary to continue to add stars. This includes leaving the door open to a reunion with outfielder Teoscar Hernández, who was incredible in one year with the Dodgers.

Bleacher Report’s Tim Kelly recently predicted that the Dodgers, due to this deferred money, will be able to re-sign Hernández. Spotrac projects Hernández to sign a contract worth $71 million over three years.

“With that said, the Dodgers extended a qualifying offer to Hernández, which he declined. That means any team other than LA that signs him will have to surrender draft pick compensation,” Kelly wrote. “For as loaded as the Dodgers are, they still have question marks in the outfield, particularly if Mookie Betts is moving back to the infield. A return to the Dodgers on a three-year deal would make the most sense for everyone.”

Why would Hernandez not want to be in Los Angeles? If the Dodgers can make the money work, the star outfielder should return and he shouldn’t even listen to other offers.

There’s no better situation for the right-handed slugger and there’s no better player for the Dodgers at this price tag. I’ve had my doubts about the Dodgers’ ability to afford Hernández, but if it’s possible, Kelly will likely prove to be correct here.

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MLB rumors: Why Dodgers didn’t make $21.05 million qualifying offer to Walker Buehler

Amid all the injury woes that ravaged the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2024, it was Walker Buehler, who has gone through plenty of injury problems of his own in the past, that stepped up as one of their best performers in the postseason. In fact, Buehler was the one who closed out Game 5 of the World Series, although it did require him to tell a bit of a lie just so he could get on the mound.

Buehler could not have picked a better time to show the MLB world that he still has plenty of gas left in the tank, as he headed into free agency after a successful World Series run with the Dodgers in 2024. But even though he stepped up for LA, the team decided not to tender him a qualifying offer worth $21.05 million.

At first glance, it may seem as though the Dodgers simply chose not to offer this to Buehler due to their belief that he is not worth that much on the open market. But Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic wrote that the Dodgers wanted to make Buehler’s life in free agency much easier, as tying him down to a qualifying offer would have taken a lot of agency away from him.