Juan Soto has his choice of just about any team he wants. One team that seems to have bowed out of the Juan Soto sweepstakes is the Los Angeles Dodgers.
According to reports from David Vassegh, the Dodgers are interested in bringing Teoscar Hernandez. Doing so would pretty much end any pursuit they may have had for Soto. You have to think throwing $182 million at Blake Snell certainly played a role in going after Hernandez as well.
The Dodgers running it back with Hernandez actually isn’t a bad move for them. Hernandez had a great MLB postseason, hitting three home runs and 12 RBIs. He also slashed .250/.352/.417. If they ultimately re-sign Hernandez, it could be just another player that can help the Dodgers remain the top team in baseball.
And with one less suitor, it could open the door for Toronto, who appears serious in luring Soto, the New York Yankees and the Mets to duke it out.
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Vassegh added a lot of context for how the Dodgers are moving after beating the Yankees for a World Series. Essentially, Snell is going to be their biggest move of the offseason. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
They obviously felt Snell had more to offer than Walker Buehler. They probably have that same sentiment with Hernandez. Not that he’s better than Soto, but he was more affordable. The Dodgers already have one $700 million player on the roster. Two would be overloaded.
This past season, Hernandez had one of his best seasons in the big leagues, slashing .272/.339/.501 and hitting 33 home runs with 93 RBIs. The other thing to take into account to, it wasn’t guaranteed Soto wanted to join the Dodgers either.
They opted for the more secure option in bringing back a player. If they took their chance on Soto and he chose another team and they missed out on Hernandez, they would have felt they messed that situation up.
Either way, the Dodgers continue to put the pressure on everyone else in the MLB to keep up. The Dodgers have one of the most expensive rosters. Whoever lands Soto will be up there with them too.
And while they probably won’t sign Soto once they ink the Hernandez deal, they would have felt it was still a win for them.
