{"id":534512,"date":"2026-01-23T14:45:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T14:45:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/534512\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T14:45:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T14:45:17","slug":"dodgers-make-final-decision-on-change-with-teoscar-hernandez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/534512\/","title":{"rendered":"Dodgers Make Final Decision on Change With Teoscar Hern\u00e1ndez"},"content":{"rendered":"

The offseason has been an interesting, if not unsettling, one for Teoscar Hern\u00e1ndez despite having just completed the first season of a multi-year contract.<\/p>\n

Although the Dodgers faced a need in their outfield before signing Kyle Tucker to<\/a> a record-setting contract, Hern\u00e1ndez’s name surfaced in trade speculation. <\/p>\n

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said during the Winter Meetings in Orlando, Fla., that Hern\u00e1ndez still was a fit for the roster and capable of playing right field. General manager Brandon Gomes also downplayed the notion that the Dodgers were potentially looking to trade Hern\u00e1ndez.<\/p>\n

Multiple reports still suggested that remained a possibility, though more recently it became apparent that Hern\u00e1ndez was going to stay with the Dodgers. However, given their signing of Tucker, change is afoot for Hern\u00e1ndez<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Dodgers moving Teoscar Hern\u00e1ndez<\/p>\n

During Tucker’s introductory press conference this week, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts confirmed he is going to play right field and mentioned Hern\u00e1ndez as being “excited” over a return to left field.<\/p>\n

That was a sentiment Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman echoed, nearly verbatim.<\/p>\n

\u201cTeo will move to left. He\u2019s excited by it, he\u2019s excited that Kyle is joining up with us,\u201d Friedman said.<\/p>\n

Hern\u00e1ndez played 120 games (104 starts) in left field during his first season with the Dodgers. That was compared to 60 games (50 starts) in right field.<\/p>\n

After re-signing with the Dodgers on a three-year, $66 million contract, Hern\u00e1ndez exclusively played right field last season. It was a byproduct of that being his preferred position and Mookie Betts making a full-time move to shortstop.<\/p>\n

Despite the personal preference, Hern\u00e1ndez placed in the third percentile with -9 outs above average (OAA) as right fielder. That was the same number of OAA he finished with when playing left field in 2024.<\/p>\n

Amid ongoing lapses, Roberts publicly called on Hern\u00e1ndez to improve his defense but otherwise continued to show support by keeping him in right field.<\/p>\n

“I will say from my eye test, the last game in Colorado, the last time we were in Denver, from that point on, his right-field defense was at least average,” Roberts said during the Winter Meetings. <\/p>\n

“So for me, that was sufficient with the bat potential. So we’ll have conversations, but I do think with the versatility potential and how we potentially shape this roster, there’s some options.”<\/p>\n

Even if Hern\u00e1ndez’s defensive metrics remain in line from recent seasons, there should be fewer instances of opponents being able to take an extra base with him playing left field.<\/p>\n

Recommended articles<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The offseason has been an interesting, if not unsettling, one for Teoscar Hern\u00e1ndez despite having just completed the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":534513,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2406],"tags":[5,39,1165,4332,4333,774,57,3224,4331,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-534512","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-dodgers","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-dodgers","10":"tag-la","11":"tag-la-dodgers","12":"tag-ladodgers","13":"tag-los-angeles","14":"tag-los-angeles-dodgers","15":"tag-losangeles","16":"tag-losangelesdodgers","17":"tag-mlb"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115944955756168315","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=534512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534512\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/534513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=534512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=534512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=534512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}