LOS ANGELES – The Dodgers have reached agreement on a one-year contract with free agent outfielder Jason Heyward, bringing the clubhouse leader back for the 2024 season.
The deal is pending a physical and will reportedly pay the 34-year-old Heyward $9 million.
Bringing Heyward back likely means Mookie Betts will play a good deal of second base again in 2024. Betts made 62 starts at second base in 2023 (and 12 more at shortstop), allowing Heyward to play right field against right-handed pitching.
“I think it allows us some flexibility,” Dodgers GM Brandon Gomes said earlier this month of the likelihood that Betts will play on the infield frequently again next season. “Kind of how it was set up in the second half of last year is what we’re envisioning right now. But if there’s an opportunity that changes that, that’s a conversation I’m sure we can have. But as of right now we feel Mookie will take down a good amount of second base.”
Cut loose by the Chicago Cubs in mid-season of 2022 despite being in the final year of an eight-year, $184 million contract, Heyward was signed to a minor-league contract by the Dodgers last December and earned a spot on the major-league roster in spring training.
Playing almost exclusively against right-handed pitching, Heyward batted .269 with 15 home runs and an .813 OPS while playing excellent defense in right field. He also became an important part of the Dodgers’ clubhouse culture and took young players like James Outman under his wing.