Teoscar Hernandez has had quite the season with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He made the All-Star team for the second time in his career, won the Home Run Derby and helped lead the Dodgers to one of the best records in all of baseball. But, Hernandez almost joined a different team this offseason instead of signing with Los Angeles.
The star outfielder revealed just how close he was to signing with the Boston Red Sox instead of the Dodgers in an interview with WEEI's Rob Bradford on the Baseball Isn't Boring podcast. Ultimately, Boston simply didn't offer what the slugger was looking for.
First, Hernandez admitted that the Red Sox initial offer was for two-years, $28 million compared to the one-year, $23.5 million deal that he ended up signing with the Dodgers.
“Obviously, I was not going to spend my free agency trying to get a bad deal,” Hernandez said. “At the end of the day, I love the Red Sox and they are one of my favorite teams, and I love playing there.”
Bradford then asked if he felt like he could have gotten the Red Sox to up their offer to three years.
“At the end, honestly, I thought they were going to make it,” Hernandez said. “Unfortunately, they said they had to wait because they had to make some moves and all of that stuff, and I couldn't wait any longer.”
“It's just the way they approached the free agency, teams that want to win, they spend, they go after good players,” Hernandez continued. “I'm not saying they don't have good players, because they do, the Red Sox are really good right now and they have amazing players, for my part, I just want to go to a team that's looking for everybody that is good, to win, to spend, where they're not afraid to spend and go after good players so that they can make their team better.”
Just how close were the Red Sox to signing Teoscar Hernandez?
It was previously reported that the Red Sox were one of the finalists to sign Hernandez this offseason. However, his admission about Boston being unwilling to offer a third year and his belief that they wouldn't spend enough money to be competitive is stunning.
Hernandez is just 31, and had been one of baseball's best power hitters over the past six season. The outfielder's swing is also tailor-made for Fenway Park's Green Monster. Through 45 games at Fenway, Hernandez has slashed .282/.344/.606 with 14 home runs and 44 RBI.
Even though the Red Sox are having a fine year without Hernandez, currently in possession of the third American League Wild Card spot, they could definitely use his bat in their lineup. So far this season Hernandez has 19 home runs and 62 RBI while batting in the heart of the Dodgers order.
Instead of settling for the Red Sox' two-year, $28 million offer, Hernandez decided to take the Dodgers' shorter-term, higher-value one-year $23.5 million offer, choosing to bet on himself and hit free agency again this season and try again to sign a longer-term contract.
It's clear Hernandez is a fan of the Red Sox. Will he give them another chance this offseason?
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