Teoscar Hernandez and commerce deadline pickup Jack Flaherty are heading to free company after enjoying main roles within the Dodgers’ World Sequence triumph, and each gamers instructed 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 stated earlier than, the Dodgers are the precedence, clearly,” Hernandez stated. “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 reminiscences right here. I’ve discovered rather a lot as a participant, as an individual. It feels nice to be a part of this.”
“I like this metropolis. I by no means need to depart,” Flaherty instructed 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 offers the Dodgers (and theoretically the Angels) an additional edge that different potential free-agent suitors can’t match.
It isn’t stunning to listen to gamers on any crew (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. ought to be a contending crew 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 deliver one other huge bat again into the lineup and test off the left area 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 an enormous playoff efficiency. On the flip facet, Hernandez would absolutely reject a qualifying provide, placing the Dodgers in line for a compensatory draft decide if Hernandez signed elsewhere. If Los Angeles needed to present Andy Pages extra enjoying time in left area or maybe preserve the place open for an additional outfielder (even an enormous identify 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 trying 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 correct-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’ employees. On paper, most of Los Angeles’ injured pitchers might be able to go by Opening Day 2025, but the crew will certainly look to solidify this group with not less than 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 bear a pair of surgical procedures on his left knee and toe. Kershaw pitched solely 30 regular-season innings in 2024 attributable to 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 stated he’s planning to pitch in 2025, and reiterated to The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya and different reporters that “I’ll be again, one way or the other” for an 18th season with the Dodgers. This won’t essentially come to cross, nonetheless, simply by Kershaw exercising his $10MM participant choice for 2025, as Kershaw may also look to work out a brand new contract with L.A. that might presumably give each offers some flexibility for the long run. A number of of the Dodgers’ extensions in recent times have concerned tacking an additional choice 12 months or two onto a shorter-term deal, so it appears fairly attainable 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 apply 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 Sequence offered Freeman with an opportunity to completely relaxation and reset, and he considerably miraculously felt significantly better heading into Sport 1, when he kicked off his World Sequence MVP efficiency.