LOS ANGELES — The calendar has flipped and the construction remains ongoing for the Los Angeles Dodgers, from the cranes looming over their multimillion-dollar renovations at Dodger Stadium to bolstering a roster seeking to be the first repeat World Series champions since the turn of the century.
The effort continued into Friday afternoon, a day of celebration as general manager Brandon Gomes and manager Dave Roberts formally reintroduced All-Star outfielder Teoscar Hernández after a free agency in which it never appeared he’d go anywhere else. While the two members of the Dodgers’ brass raved about what Hernández brought to the franchise’s second title-winning team in five years, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman was finalizing a move much further from the national radar, finalizing a three-year, $12.5 million deal for Korean infielder Hyeseong Kim just hours before his posting window from the Kiwoom Heroes closed.
Jaw-dropping, the day was not. This is not the Dodgers’ billion-dollar offseason 2.0, nor would it ever be once Juan Soto put pen to paper to head to the Mets. Instead, it’s the latest in a still-fervent offseason for a team that can argue it is better than the team that broke through this past October.
“What is in the past is in the past,” said Hernández, who finalized a three-year, $66 million deal (that includes at least $23 million in deferred money) a season after being the cherry on top of last year’s spending spree. “We’re not gonna think about what we did the year before. We got our minds clear with what we can do. Our team is better this year. And like I always say, if we can stay healthy, we can do special things. And 2025 is gonna be one of them.”
Asked Brandon Gomes if he could say if the Dodgers had been granted a second meeting with Roki Sasaki and his camp: “Not able to say at this time. I hope so.”
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) January 3, 2025
A reunion with Hernández, who had a career-best year in Los Angeles, always seemed likely. It still took until December, with massaging of the amount of deferred money and a signing bonus (also $23 million) to make both sides satisfied with Hernández’s desired framework (three years and a guarantee of $22 million to $24 million per year, as The Athletic reported).
“The pace of it, the goal was always to bring him back and we got there,” Gomes said.
“For us, Teo checked every single box,” Roberts said. “What he did for us and how he made everyone better, it was a no-brainer.”
The Dodgers have continued to operate. The loss of Walker Buehler (and potentially Jack Flaherty) in free agency was offset as the Dodgers signed two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell. They brought back reliever Blake Treinen and extended Tommy Edman to play center field.
Rather than bank on homegrown solutions in their outfield, the Dodgers spun their one-year wheel and hope to get the best out of Michael Conforto, who will likely slot in as the everyday left fielder with Hernández sliding over to right field. That position is open because the Dodgers have continued to express confidence that Mookie Betts will be their Opening Day shortstop, though they’ve managed to add another contingency plan by signing Kim, whom the club views as a super-utility option to start the season.
Los Angeles’ ongoing pursuit of Roki Sasaki during his posting window obscured a more muted push for Kim, a 25-year-old with experience playing across the diamond with a strong defensive reputation. The Dodgers got an up-close look at him during the exhibition games they played this March in Seoul. (Roberts, speaking after a game against the Korean national team, highlighted Kim specifically as a player the Dodgers enjoyed watching.)
The upside, Gomes said, is this: Kim is a “double-plus runner” with at least 20 stolen bases in every year with the Heroes and a history of strong on-base numbers to go with an offensive profile that could benefit from added strength in the Dodgers’ environment. They’re guaranteeing just $12.5 million for the short term, improving a bench a little light on left-handed bats, with a two-year option they could pick up for the 2028 and 2029 seasons that could push the guarantees to $22 million.
It does, however, add some intrigue to how this all shakes out. Does it box the Dodgers into Betts at shortstop, or give them an out? Does it give the Dodgers too many middle-infield options between Betts and Gavin Lux at second base with Kim, Miguel Rojas, Edman and even Chris Taylor (and his $13 million in the last year under contract) behind him? Could that surplus be used to acquire pitching, with Lux seemingly perpetually the subject of public trade speculation? Does this officially close the door on another reunion, this time with fellow utility man Kiké Hernández who performed admirably during the Dodgers’ playoff run?
“I think it’s more that we’re adding a really talented player and (we’ll) see where things play out,” Gomes said. “I don’t know if you noticed our injuries last year, but it’s helpful to have really strong pieces at a lot of different areas. So that’s how we’re viewing it right now. We don’t feel like there’s anything necessarily that we need to do.”
Betts’ bat didn’t suffer during his time as a shortstop last summer, but after breaking his hand in June he returned to right field when he came off the injured list. Lux enjoyed an .899 OPS after the All-Star break and the front office has talked up the strides he made after getting past the mental scars of a torn ACL that cost him all of 2023. Rojas enjoyed the best offensive season of his career in 2024 but physically couldn’t hold up, requiring hernia surgery immediately after the club’s World Series run. Taylor lasted the whole year in 2024 despite a .598 OPS, but is now in the final year of his four-year, $60 million deal he inked in free agency shortly before the start of the 2021 lockout.
It’s a crowded group, and the Dodgers still seek pitching. Gomes declined to say Friday whether the organization has been granted a second meeting with Sasaki and his camp but said, “We hope so,” after his agent, Joel Wolfe, said this week the right-hander’s second round of meetings will lead directly up to the window between Jan. 15 and Jan. 23 when he’s expected to sign. Clayton Kershaw is expected to return as well to bolster a starting group that has plenty of names but few certainties when it comes to innings totals.
Gomes said Friday that the Dodgers could use another reliever, with the organization’s preference being to sign one rather than have to trade for one at the deadline at a heftier cost. The Athletic has tied them to left-hander Tanner Scott, the best free-agent reliever still available, though there’s no indication that a conclusion is near in his market.
The lone odd man out, at least thus far, came as a secondary paragraph in the Dodgers’ release announcing the signing of Kim. To clear a 40-man roster spot, they designated catching prospect Diego Cartaya for assignment. In most other situations, a top-10 prospect being designated for assignment before his major-league debut would be a signal for panic. Just two springs ago, The Athletic’s Keith Law rated Cartaya as the sixth-best prospect in the sport — a toolsy backstop with a large frame and high upside at the plate.
Cartaya’s two years since have been marred by injury and poor production, with a .656 OPS in Double A in 2023 and a .686 OPS between Double A and Triple A in 2024. For years, Cartaya was seen as a potential cornerstone, with the Dodgers trading fellow catching prospect Keibert Ruiz in 2022 as part of a massive deadline haul. But injuries, combined with the 10-year contract extension handed to Will Smith last spring and the rise of fellow catching prospect Dalton Rushing, sent Cartaya’s stock plummeting.
(Top photo of Teoscar Hernández: Jim McIsaac / Getty Images)
