At this point, baseball fans shouldn’t be surprised by that kind of deal arrangement. The Dodgers signed Yoshinobu Yamamoto, a great pitcher from Japan, and Hernandez after delaying the majority of Shohei Ohtani’s $700 million megadeal earlier this offseason.
Hernandez, 31, began playing Major League Baseball for the Astros in 2016. Before being traded for Francisco Liriano at the 2017 trade deadline by the Toronto Blue Jays, he appeared in just 42 games for Houston . Hernandez, then, was not present when the Astros won the World Series later that autumn.
He is still searching for his first ring after several productive seasons with the Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners. Hernandez quickly blossomed into one of the better hitters in the American League, averaging 24 home runs and an .801 OPS (118 OPS+) from 2018-2023. He was an All-Star in 2021 and earned back-to-back Silver Sluggers in 2020 and 2021.
One of the better bats available to free agents this winter was the hard-hitting outfielder. He will become a part of the Dodgers’ incredibly talented lineup, which already features Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts, and Ohtani.
Passan claims that Hernandez declined many multi-year contracts from Los Angeles in order to join the team. It’s understandable why the highly anticipated Dodgers are the early favorites to win the 2024 World Series.
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