So much so that, on the first day of MLB\u2019s annual winter meetings at the Signia by Hilton Orlando on Monday, the most intriguing rumor surrounding the team had to do with a potential subtraction from their big-league roster.<\/p>\n
According to multiple reports, Teoscar Hern\u00e1ndez<\/a> has come up in the Dodgers\u2019 trade talks with other teams this winter. USA Today went as far as saying the club was \u201cshopping\u201d the two-time All-Star, who is entering the second season of the three-year, $66-million deal he signed<\/a> last offseason.<\/p>\n However, both manager Dave Roberts<\/a> and general manager Brandon Gomes<\/a> downplayed that notion while addressing reporters on Monday.<\/p>\n Dodgers right fielder Teoscar Hern\u00e1ndez hits a sacrifice fly to score Dodgers\u2019 Will Smith during the Game 7 of the World Series against the Toronto Blue Jays on Nov. 1.<\/p>\n (Robert Gauthier\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n \u201cTeo certainly fits [our roster still],\u201d Roberts said. \u201cHe\u2019s helped us win two championships. He\u2019s one of my favorites.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat doesn\u2019t feel likely,\u201d Gomes added of the possibility of trading Hern\u00e1ndez. \u201cObviously, you can never say never on those types of things. I know that\u2019s come up [in reports]. But that\u2019s not something we anticipate at all.\u201d<\/p>\n The idea of the Dodgers trading Hern\u00e1ndez has felt like a long shot from the start. Though the 33-year-old slugger suffered an inconsistent and injury-plagued regular season in 2025 \u2014 both at the plate, where he had 25 home runs but hit only .247, and especially defensively, where he had several notable lapses after moving to right field \u2014 the 10-year veteran has made crucial contributions in each of the Dodgers\u2019 two World Series runs the last couple years, and has served in a mentor role to young players in the clubhouse; none more so than Andy Pages<\/a>.<\/p>\n Granted, moving Hern\u00e1ndez could help the Dodgers get younger, which has been a goal for the front office this offseason as they try to navigate their aging and expensive roster. And his salary could be repurposed if the team were to make a splashier free-agent signing.<\/p>\n But for now, the Dodgers continue to express belief in their current core, with Roberts noting Monday that \u201cwe\u2019re very confident with where the roster is right now\u201d and that \u201cthere\u2019s really no big splash we feel needs to be made.\u201d<\/p>\n Plus, moving Hern\u00e1ndez would also only further exacerbate the team\u2019s pre-existing need for outfield help, as the club continues to evaluate both the free agent market (where players such as Cody Bellinger or Harrison Bader figure to be better, and more affordable, fits than a likely $400-million signing of top free-agent option Kyle Tucker) and trade possibilities (such as Brendan Donovan or Lars Nootbaar of the St. Louis Cardinals, Jarren Duran or Wilyer Abreu of the Boston Red Sox or \u2014 in a less likely scenario \u2014 Steven Kwan of the Cleveland Guardians).<\/p>\n Roberts did leave the door open to potentially moving Hern\u00e1ndez back to left field, where he spent the majority of 2024 for the Dodgers before shifting over to his more natural right field position last year.<\/p>\n Still, in Roberts\u2019 eyes, Hern\u00e1ndez\u2019s defense was \u201cat least average\u201d in right after an August series in Colorado when he made a couple particularly glaring mistakes on fly balls. His career-long defensive metrics have also been stronger in right field than left.<\/p>\n \u201cI do think that with the versatility [of our roster] and how we potentially shape this roster, there\u2019s some options,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cBut right now, he\u2019s our right fielder.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"p]:text-cms-story-body-color-text clearfix”> ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 It\u2019s been an offseason of few acquisitions thus far for the Dodgers. So…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":338553,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[170386,170387,421,12530,4279,170385,6822,3423,170384,363,23600,2590,36408,5190,99,1599,16153],"class_list":["post-338552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-big-league-roster","tag-bullpen-option","tag-club","tag-deal","tag-dodgers","tag-gomes","tag-hernandez","tag-interest","tag-last-couple-year","tag-mlb","tag-monday","tag-offseason","tag-roberts","tag-season","tag-sports","tag-team","tag-thing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=338552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338552\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/338553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} <\/p>\n