The Los Angeles Dodgers will likely keep a lot of their roster intact this offseason.
The one player who has been floated over and over in trade rumors already, though, is Teoscar Hernandez.
The right-handed slugger has been a key piece for L.A. in recent years but appears to be on the decline.
He’s still got enough thump in his bat to appeal to other teams, though, and the Dodgers have a couple reasons that trading Hernandez could make sense.
One of those reasons is Shohei Ohtani.
Shohei Ohtani Reason for Trading Teoscar Hernandez
Many sluggers are able to age gracefully into the back stages of their career and become a designated hitter.
That’s not possible with the Dodgers, because they have Ohtani.
Ohtani is going to be the Dodgers’ DH for as long as he’s in L.A.
That means that Hernandez could never be a full-time DH for the Dodgers.
“The postseason demonstrated that the Dodgers have to start thinking about reshaping their position player group, to get younger and more athletic,” ESPN’s Buster Olney wrote on Monday in a new article. “But that will be challenging, with so many of their veterans under contract. The most obvious trade candidate in their position player group is Teoscar Hernandez, because as he gets older and his defensive skills naturally decline, there is no out for him at the DH spot, with the presence of Shohei Ohtani.”
Obviously, the Dodgers aren’t complaining about having Ohtani occupy the DH spot. It just creates the conundrum, whether now or later, of what to do with Hernandez — who isn’t going to be getting any better in left field.
Dodgers Youth
The Dodgers also do a great job of producing promising prospects, but they don’t always get to play because of the veterans ahead of them.
Moving Hernandez would also create some space for an infusion of youth in L.A.
ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez wrote this in the same article mentioned above:
“Their entire starting lineup is under contract. And though their front office will spend a lot of time debating the merits of a younger position-player group, that might ultimately happen internally — with the likes of Josue De Paula, Alex Freeland and, when he recovers from elbow surgery, Dalton Rushing mixing in. Could a blockbuster deal for a young, controllable, upper-echelon position player materialize? Certainly. But those are always difficult.”
He’s wondering if the Dodgers could use their youth to trade for pitching.
But if they trade Hernandez instead, then that youth could simply factor into the action on the field in Dodgers blue in the years ahead.
Dodgers Could Trade Teoscar Hernandez Because of Shohei Ohtani