{"id":338458,"date":"2025-12-11T06:32:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T06:32:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/338458\/"},"modified":"2025-12-11T06:32:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T06:32:08","slug":"royals-interested-in-teoscar-hernandez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/338458\/","title":{"rendered":"Royals Interested In Teoscar Hernandez"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kansas City missed out<\/a> on bringing back Mike Yastrzemski<\/a>, but the club might have its sights set on a bigger prize. Katie Woo and Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic report<\/a> the Royals are interested in Dodgers outfielder Teoscar Hernandez<\/a>. The veteran\u2019s name has come up<\/a> in trade talks recently, though general manager Brandon Gomes has said<\/a> a deal \u201cdoesn\u2019t seem likely.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reports surfaced earlier this week<\/a> that the Royals were looking to add multiple outfielders. President of baseball operations J.J. Picollo has already said<\/a> he\u2019d be willing to deal a pitcher for an outfielder. Kansas City had been interested in a reunion with trade deadline acquisition Yastrzemski, but he ultimately landed a two-year deal with Atlanta.<\/p>\n

Finding an impact bat in the outfield has been an ongoing pursuit for the organization. Kansas City was linked to Jarren Duran<\/a> ahead of the trade deadline. The club came up short in signing Anthony Santander<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Jurickson Profar<\/a> last offseason. While the Royals aren\u2019t expected to be shopping in the\u00a0Kyle Tucker<\/a> or Cody Bellinger<\/a> tier this winter, they\u2019ve been connected to Harrison Bader<\/a> and\u00a0Austin Hays<\/a>.\u00a0Jake Meyers<\/a> and Brendan Donovan<\/a> have been mentioned as trade targets.<\/p>\n

Hernandez provided league-average production as LA\u2019s primary right fielder last season. He failed to follow up on his 33-homer, 12-steal debut campaign with the team, slipping to a 102 wRC+ over 134 games. Hernandez hit .257 with one homer in the postseason for the eventual champions. The 33-year-old is entering the second season of a three-year, $66MM deal.<\/p>\n

The main drawback with Hernandez in recent years has been his defense. He\u2019s totaled -19 Outs Above Average over the past two seasons with the Dodgers. Statcast grades Hernandez\u2019s arm as close to average, but his range has fallen significantly from the early days with Toronto, when he was capable of playing center field. The defensive shortcomings could lead the Dodgers to consider a more versatile alternative. The club certainly has the resources to make an outfield addition if they were to ship out Hernandez.<\/p>\n

Kansas City\u2019s outfielders ranked among the weakest offensive contributors last season. The club\u2019s center fielders combined for a .645 OPS, and that was their best mark among the three outfield positions. The Royals did their best to find a righty slugger to add to the mix last year, but none of Randal Grichuk<\/a>, Hunter Renfroe<\/a>, or Mark Canha<\/a> panned out. The lineup would likely have the left-handed trio of\u00a0Jac Caglianone<\/a>,\u00a0Kyle Isbel<\/a>, and\u00a0John Rave<\/a> manning the grass if the season started today.<\/p>\n

The Royals scored the fifth-fewest runs last season. They were also bottom five in home runs. The top of the lineup is set, but there are plenty of question marks past Salvador Perez<\/a> in the cleanup spot. An addition in the outfield seems like the easiest route to improve the club\u2019s offensive outlook. Top prospect Caglianone will get a chance to stick as a regular, but Rave had middling results in the minors before struggling in his MLB debut, and Isbel has never hit for an extended stretch as a big leaguer. Isbel has routinely graded out as a stellar defender, so he could potentially alleviate some of the defensive issues that would come with acquiring Hernandez.<\/p>\n

Photo courtesy of Kiyoshi Mio, Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kansas City missed out on bringing back Mike Yastrzemski, but the club might have its sights set on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":338459,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,462,82,10166],"class_list":{"0":"post-338458","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-teoscar-hernandez"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=338458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338458\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/338459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}