More information on the 3-year, $66 million deal for the All-Star and Silver Slugger Award-winning outfielder to remain in Los Angeles.
The Dodgers finalized their three-year contract with outfielder Teoscar Hernández back on January 3, bringing the outfielder back on a deal that guarantees $66 million. After playing a little catch-up during the first full week of the new year, here are some further details of Hernández’s contract.
Hernández will receive a $23 million signing bonus, per both Fabian Ardaya at The Athletic and Jon Heyman at the New York Post, then will receive these salaries:
2025: $10 million ($7.5 million deferred)
2026: $12 million ($8 million deferred)
2027: $14.5 million ($8 million deferred)
There’s also a club option for 2028 worth $15 million, with a $6.5 million buyout. Heyman noted there is also a conditional option for 2029 (think Blake Treinen’s 2024 season here), but I haven’t yet seen full details of said option.
A total of $23.5 million of Hernández’s 2025-27 salaries are deferred. Hernández in his previous one-year, $23.5 million contract with the Dodgers for 2024 also had $8.5 million deferred, to be paid $850,000 annually from 2030-39.
The combination of signing bonus and salary deferrals has been used by the Dodgers recently, including contracts this offseason for Hernández, starting pitcher Blake Snell and utility man Tommy Edman:
- Snell: $182 million total, $52 million (28.6 percent) signing bonus, $66 million (36.3 percent) deferred
- Edman: $74 million total, $17 million (22.3 percent) signing bonus, $25 million (33.8 percent) deferred
- Hernández: $66 million total, $23 million (34.8 percent) signing bonus, $23.5 million (35.6 percent) deferred
“It’s always challenging. You’re looking to any lever you possibly can to get to a point where there’s overlap,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said on December 3. “There are times when a deal lines up in a straightforward way. There are times when it’s less straightforward, so including deferrals helps as a lever to find that overlap. It’s been a useful tool for us.”
Deferrals reduce the average annual value of Hernández’s contract to roughly $19.37 million for competitive balance tax purposes, per Heyman. Once I find out the exact number, I will update accordingly.
At the moment, after also signing Hyeseong Kim and most of the arbitration cases resolved, the Dodgers have an estimated CBT payroll of $350.6 million for 2025.