Sources – Teoscar Hernández and Dodgers reach three-year, $66 million deal

Outfielder Teoscar Hernández and the Los Angeles Dodgers have agreed to a three-year, $66 million contract, sources told ESPN on Friday.

“I’m back,” Hernández wrote on Instagram.

Almost immediately after the World Series win, Hernández declared his desire to return to the Dodgers after a one-year commitment proved mutually successful. It took nearly two months for the Dodgers to negotiate a new, mutually acceptable contract. They signed outfielder Michael Conforto and held trade talks for the outfielders while Hernández considered other offers.

Ultimately, the teams agreed to a deal that included a $15 million club option for the 2028 season with a $6.5 million buyout, $23.5 million in deferred money and a $23 million signing bonus Includes US dollars.

Hernández, 32, signed with the Dodgers for one year and $23.5 million – $8.5 million of which was deferred – after the free-agent market undervalued him for a long-term contract. He counted the risks and hit .272/.339/.501 with a career-high 33 home runs and 99 RBIs. His two-run double in Championship Game 5 of the World Series capped the New York Yankees’ nightmare inning, and a Game 2 home run off Carlos Rodon gave Los Angeles a lead it couldn’t relinquish.

Aside from the injury after injury expected among their pitchers, the Dodgers have spent the winter producing new performances. First came Blake Snell, the two-time National League Cy Young winner, for five years and $182 million. They brought back Blake Treinen, another Game 5 hero, for two years and $22 million. And Conforto hopes to follow Hernández’s example by joining the industry’s most successful franchise on a one-year deal and thriving like so many.

Before coming to Los Angeles, Hernández was one of the most consistent outfielders in baseball, having not batted full-time until his age-25 season. Among the 125 batters with at least 2,500 plate appearances since 2018, Hernández ranks 17th in home runs, 21st in RBIs and 40th in OPS+.

He adds another big bat and another body to a lineup filled with them to an outfield mix that includes Conforto, Andy Pages, Chris Taylor, James Outman and Tommy Edman, who can play center field and shortstop, where the Former outfielder and MVP Mookie Betts plans to play every day.

Los Angeles continued to use deferrals, in which portions of salaries are not paid out for years. While the bulk of Los Angeles’ over $1 billion in deferred funds belongs to Shohei Ohtani, $680 million of his $700 million contract will be deferred a decade later, leaving Los Angeles with about $46 million per year into an escrow account must cover it – others with deferrals on their contracts include Betts, Snell, Edman, Freddie Freeman and Will Smith.

Players often use deferred money and signing bonuses to reduce their tax burden, particularly in California, where a lawmaker has introduced a bill to close an “obscure tax loophole.” Hernández’s moves are not as delayed as Ohtani’s, but begin in six years rather than a decade.