Teoscar Hernandez and commerce deadline pickup Jack Flaherty are heading to free company after enjoying main roles within the Dodgers’ World Collection triumph, and each gamers advised reporters (together with MLB.com’s Juan Toribio and SportsNet LA’s David Vassegh) that they wish to return to Los Angeles for an encore.
“My hopes are actually excessive. Like I’ve mentioned earlier than, the Dodgers are the precedence, clearly,” Hernandez mentioned. “I’m going to do every thing in my energy to come back again….I need us to be right here. I need us to be a part of this. I’ve so many good recollections right here. I’ve discovered loads as a participant, as an individual. It feels nice to be a part of this.”
“I really like this metropolis. I by no means wish to depart,” Flaherty advised Vassegh, with the phrases maybe carrying a bit of additional weight since Flaherty was born in Burbank and grew up in Los Angeles. This doesn’t essentially imply that Flaherty would give the Dodgers a hometown low cost, although naturally enjoying near dwelling provides the Dodgers (and theoretically the Angels) an additional edge that different potential free-agent suitors can’t match.
It isn’t shocking to listen to gamers on any workforce (whether or not world champions or not) specific an open want to re-sign with their present groups, and emotions might change because the free agent market develops. After all, profitable a title once more underlines the truth that L.A. needs to be a contending workforce for years to come back, giving the Dodgers much more flexibility in selecting and selecting how they’ll assemble their 2025 roster.
Re-signing Hernandez would convey one other huge bat again into the lineup and test off the left subject query mark in a single fell swoop. Although the slugger is coming into his age-32 season, he’s additionally coming off the most effective years of his 9 MLB seasons, and he additional confirmed his worth with a giant playoff efficiency. On the flip facet, Hernandez would certainly reject a qualifying supply, placing the Dodgers in line for a compensatory draft choose if Hernandez signed elsewhere. If Los Angeles wished to present Andy Pages extra enjoying time in left subject or maybe preserve the place open for one more outfielder (even a giant title like Juan Soto), the Dodgers might decide to stroll away from Hernandez and simply view their one-year alliance as a complete win for each events.
Each Hernandez and Flaherty had been seeking to bounce again after shaky 2024 seasons, and Flaherty likewise answered some critics by posting a 3.17 ERA throughout 162 mixed regular-season innings with the Tigers and Dodgers. The best-hander’s postseason efficiency was much more inconsistent, but Flaherty was necessary just because he was a correct beginning pitcher inside the injury-ravaged Dodgers’ workers. On paper, most of Los Angeles’ injured pitchers will likely be able to go by Opening Day 2025, but the workforce will certainly look to solidify this group with at the least one different starter to offer some sturdiness in addition to high quality innings.
Clayton Kershaw is a kind of pitchers with a murky well being standing, because the longtime Dodger ace is ready to endure a pair of surgical procedures on his left knee and toe. Kershaw pitched solely 30 regular-season innings in 2024 as a result of bone spurs in his toe, his restoration from a shoulder surgical procedure from final November, and this heretofore unknown torn meniscus in his left knee.
The southpaw has already mentioned he’s planning to pitch in 2025, and reiterated to The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya and different reporters that “I’ll be again, by some means” for an 18th season with the Dodgers. This won’t essentially come to go, nonetheless, simply by Kershaw exercising his $10MM participant possibility for 2025, as Kershaw may additionally look to work out a brand new contract with L.A. that will presumably give each provides some flexibility for the long run. A number of of the Dodgers’ extensions lately have concerned tacking an additional possibility 12 months or two onto a shorter-term deal, so it appears fairly doable the membership might once more discover such a contract with Kershaw.
In different Dodger information, the tip of the playoffs additionally acts because the time when gamers historically come clear about any hidden accidents they’ve been enjoying via in October. It was already identified that Freddie Freeman was enjoying regardless of an ankle sprain and bone bruise, but ESPN’s Jeff Passan writes that Freeman additionally suffered damaged costal cartilage in his rib whereas taking batting follow simply previous to the beginning of the Dodgers’ NLDS matchup with the Padres.
The primary baseman nonetheless performed in 4 of the 5 video games in that sequence in addition to 4 of the Dodgers’ six NLCS video games with the Mets, although Freeman was hitting solely .219/.242/.219 in his first 33 playoff plate appearances. The 4 days’ off between the tip of the NLCS and the beginning of the World Collection offered Freeman with an opportunity to completely relaxation and reset, and he considerably miraculously felt a lot better heading into Sport 1, when he kicked off his World Collection MVP efficiency.
