Dodgers facing tough competition to re-sign Teoscar Hernandez

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DALLAS — Last year, the Dodgers entered Major League Baseball’s winter meetings as one of the most intriguing clubs in the league, as they awaited an outcome to the Shohei Ohtani sweepstakes.

This year, the team has been somewhat under the radar at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas, having already executed several key pieces of offseason business.

Last week, the team addressed its need in the starting rotation, landing two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell on a five-year, $182 million contract. On Sunday, it re-signed Blake Treinen in the bullpen and added veteran Michael Conforto for outfield depth — all while another target, Juan Soto, agreed to a record-breaking $765 million deal with the New York Mets.

Nonetheless, the Dodgers’ winter to-do list isn’t complete yet. And after manager Dave Roberts and general manager Brandon Gomes met with reporters on Monday, here are five story lines to follow as the rest of the meetings, and the winter, progress.

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Teoscar Hernández negotiations

Dodgers outfielder Teoscar Hernández runs the bases after hitting a three-run home run against the Baltimore Orioles.

Coming off his resurgent 2024 season in Los Angeles, outfielder Teoscar Hernández has desired to remain with the Dodgers. Last week, talks between the sides finally picked up as well.

But as of Monday afternoon, Hernández remained unsigned. And in the wake of Soto’s monster contract, he’s now perhaps the most coveted outfielder still left on the market. That means, as other Soto finalists refocus on Hernández this week, the Dodgers could face renewed competition for the two-time All-Star and three-time Silver Slugger, potentially from fellow big-market clubs such as the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees.

“I’m always going to be a Teo fan,” Roberts said. “There’s not a whole lot of guys that can start 157, 158 ball games and post and then to be that productive. Then you layer on being in a big market, helping us win a championship. Those players don’t come around very often.”

“But,” Roberts added, “obviously Teo has put himself in a very good position as a free agent and had a very productive year. So he’s got some decisions to make as well. He’s going to kind of suss those out. But it would be hard for me not to see him coming back.”

If the Dodgers fail to retain Hernández, they’ll have to address the void he’ll leave behind. The team does have an everyday center fielder in Tommy Edman (who isn’t expected to split his time at shortstop as often as he did last year). Conforto should also get the lion’s share of at-bats in one of the corner outfield spots.

After that, however, the Dodgers outfield depth includes only younger names such as Andy Pages, James Outman and maybe even top prospect Dalton Rushing, as well as slumping veteran Chris Taylor. And if they miss on Hernández, both the free agent and trade markets are lacking many obvious potential impact replacements.

“He has earned this ability with a great year to go out and explore free agency,” Gomes said, after reiterating his appreciation for Hernández’s contributions last year. “We’ll continue to look for ways to improve our team and I’m sure have additional conversations there [with his camp].”

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Roki Sasaki posting

Roki Sasaki of Japan pitches against the Czech Republic at the World Baseball Classic on March 11, 2023, in Tokyo.

After Hernández, the biggest name to watch for the rest of this Dodgers offseason is Roki Sasaki, the 23-year-old Japanese star pitcher will be officially posted for MLB clubs by his Japanese team this week.

Sasaki’s decision isn’t expected to come quickly. Because he is an international free agent under the age of 25, he will be restricted to a minor-league contract with a modest signing bonus (similar to when Ohtani joined the Angels from Japan in 2018). But, if he waits to sign until Jan. 15 — when MLB’s 2025 international signing period opens — interested teams would have more available funds in their international bonus pools to potentially woo him with.

The Dodgers have the smallest such allotment in the majors, with only around $5.1 million total to spend on international signings in 2025. But, money does not appear to be Sasaki’s primary motivation (after all, he could have been an unrestricted free agent if he had waited to come to MLB until he was 25). Plus, the Dodgers can acquire up to about $3 million more in bonus pool money in trades with other teams, if needed.

In other words: The Dodgers should be positioned to sign Sasaki if he wants to come to Los Angeles — though they will also face competition from much of the rest of the league, with the San Diego Padres (at least in the words of their manager) emerging as perhaps one of their biggest rivals for the Japanese talent.

“We should be very legitimate contenders,” Padres manager Mike Shildt told MLB Network Radio. “We fully expect to be right in the mix, and at the end of the day have Sasaki as a Padre.”

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Mookie Betts back to shortstop

Mookie Betts celebrates after hitting a two-run home run in Game 4 of the NLCS against the Mets on Oct. 17.

After announcing last month that Mookie Betts would return to the infield in 2025, Gomes specified Monday that the team plans to play Betts primarily at shortstop next season.

The move will mark a return to the position Betts took over late in spring training last year, when the Dodgers flipped him and Gavin Lux up the middle after Lux struggled defensively in the preseason.

For someone who hadn’t played shortstop regularly since high school, Betts held his own before breaking his hand in June, recording three defensive runs saved in 65 games at the position. However, he also committed nine errors (eight on throws) and was eventually moved back to the outfield upon returning from the injured list in June.

Nonetheless, the Dodgers remain optimistic about Betts’ ability to keep improving at shortstop in 2025, hopeful that with a full offseason of work he’ll perform more consistently at the game’s most premium defensive position.

“Things [that] are most challenging to teach — getting off the ball, range, making exceptional plays, his pre-pitch timing — he nailed those,” Gomes said. “It was really syncing up his throw from that, because he’s been so used to the outfield throw.”

Roberts noted there is still time for things to potentially change. The Dodgers have been linked in trade rumors to big names such as St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado and Milwaukee Brewers reliever Devin Williams; the kind of hypothetical moves that could cause a larger roster shake-up.

But for now, Gomes said, the plan is to have Betts at shortstop, Max Muncy at third base and Gavin Lux at second on a primary basis.

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Juan Soto reaction

Juan Soto hits a two-run home run for the New York Yankees against the Dodgers in Game 2 of the World Series on Oct. 26.

A day after losing out in the Soto sweepstakes, Dodgers officials didn’t seem overly disappointed.

While the team was a finalist for the 26-year-old superstar, they were not believed to have rivaled the Mets’ record-breaking bid, or the incumbent New York Yankees’ reported $760 million offer.

Because of that, their chances of landing Soto had been seemingly dwindling in the days leading up to Sunday night’s deal.

“I know we were in there,” Roberts said, “but I think that obviously there were some other teams that are even more motivated.”

Added Gomes: “As we do with everybody, we do our due diligence and make sure that nothing is assumed, as far as where guys are going to be. But yeah, they got a great player and now I’m assuming we’ll be battling the Mets for years to come.”

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Shohei Ohtani ‘very unlikely’ for opening day rotation

Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani hugs manager Dave Roberts before Game 1 of the NLCS against the Mets on Oct. 13.

Roberts said he expects Ohtani in the Dodgers’ lineup for their opening day in Japan next year, after the two-way star underwent surgery for a torn labrum at the start of the offseason.

But, the manager confirmed that it remains “very unlikely” Ohtani will be ready to pitch by then, because of both the timing of his offseason recovery and the workload restrictions he will likely face in 2025.

While Ohtani’s labrum surgery was on his non-throwing shoulder, it did delay the start of his winter throwing program until last week, Gomes said. Also, because the Dodgers will be cautious with the right-hander’s innings total in his return from a 2023 Tommy John revision surgery, it is unrealistic for him to pitch from March through October next year without some sort of midseason break.

“What we feel like is most important is that he is ready to pitch at his highest level when the games matter the most,” Gomes said. “Early-season games are very important, but we feel like if we can get him to a position where he is peaking towards the end of the season, that is the ideal scenario.”