Free agent signings and trades have yet to heat up around Major League Baseball, but the rumor mill is in full swing. By this point, most teams have identified their main offseason goals and players they’re interested in signing or trading away. As the Los Angeles Dodgers prepare a spot for top prospect Josue De Paula in 2027, it leaves them willing to trade away a veteran slugger who could fit just what the White Sox are looking for. It seems like we may have found a match.
The Dodgers are open to trading Teoscar Hernandez, creating a path for Josue De Paula to start in left field next season, per @Alden_Gonzalez
— Just Baseball (@JustBB_Media) November 13, 2026
Hernandez is owed $17.3 million in 2027 with a $15 million club option for 2028. pic.twitter.com/sAEbFge86F
Hernandez, 34, originally signed with the Houston Astros out of the Dominican Republic in 2011. He made his big league debut with 41 games in 2016 and played just one game with Houston in 2017 before a trade sent him to the Toronto Blue Jays. It was there that he spent the next five years of his career, slugging 129 home runs in a Toronto uniform from 2017-2022 and never posting an OPS below .770. Hernandez was dealt to the Mariners before his 2023 contract year, where he hit .258 with 26 home runs and played 160 of 162 games prior to hitting free agency.
Hernandez signed a one-year deal with the Dodgers and slugged a career-high 33 home runs in 2024, then re-signed on a three-year, $66 million deal before 2025. His past two seasons weren’t his best, but he still hit 41 home runs and posted OPS’s of .738 and .759 over them. Hernandez enters 2027 with one year left on his contract at $17.3 million, and a $15 million club option for 2028. That contract makes it unlikely he’d require a significant prospect return, and the Dodgers would almost certainly either have to eat money or take on another contract in the deal.
Thin outfield market could lead White Sox to trade for an upgrade
White Sox GM Chris Getz identified a right-handed outfielder as one of the team’s needs for the offseason, but a glance at the free-agent list for the outfield makes it a tough situation. Randy Arozarena and Seiya Suzuki are the clear top names at the position. Taylor Ward represents another solid option. Outside of those three, however, the market is thin. The White Sox will likely focus the bulk of their spending on the starting pitching, leaving them with only a couple options: trade for an outfielder, or sign a smaller name that will likely be a downgrade from Randal Grichuk.
In Hernandez, the White Sox would get a veteran power hitter who has proven that even in his down seasons, he can still be a productive big league hitter. Hernandez has good arm strength in the outfield, though he’s below average in most other defensive metrics at this point in his career, so he might make more sense if they move on from Benintendi and can use him some in the DH spot. But it’s a name I expect Chris Getz to be calling on before the lockout. Someone like Dylan Crews from the Nationals could also make sense as a higher-risk higher-reward option.
The lockout is coming in just 17 days and the dam has yet to break across baseball. With a flurry of activity expecting to begin soon, I expect the White Sox to have at least a couple new faces when things shut down in December, and a new outfielder could be on that list.
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