Dodgers' 2023-24 Hot Stove League

I missed this.

Dodgers re-sign Kiké Hernández after trading Manuel Margot to Twins

Story by Jack Harris • 10h

The Dodgers’ new-look roster got another modification Monday.

Shortly after the team agreed to trade outfielder Manuel Margot to the Minnesota Twins, they struck a one-year, $4-million contract with super-utility man Kiké Hernández, bringing back the veteran free agent after trading for him at the deadline last season.

The moves make sense for a Dodgers team still trying to improve around the margins.

Whereas Margot was expected to serve a more limited role as backup center fielder to James Outman, Hernández should give the Dodgers more “optionality,” a highly treasured asset to the club’s front office.

By sending Margot (and minor-league infielder Rayne Doncon) to Minnesota, the Dodgers added another prospect to their system, getting shortstop and former No. 36 overall draft pick Noah Miller back in the deal.

And, they did without making any major alterations to their payroll situation. While Margot was due to earn $10 million from the Dodgers, the team is sending cash to the Twins that will effectively pay down Margot’s salary there to $4 million — effectively, a cash-neutral pair of transactions when accounting for Hernández’s new deal.

“Obviously, Manny still fit really well,” general manager Brandon Gomes said. “Kiké, we felt, just fit a little bit better.”

A free agent who’d remained unsigned through the first few weeks of spring training, Hernández was reportedly deciding between four teams — the Angels, Twins, New York Yankees and San Diego Padres — over the weekend, with a final decision expected to come Monday.

On Monday, however, the Dodgers swooped in to keep the 32-year-old with the organization, finalizing a reunion both Dodgers brass and Hernández himself had been interested in all offseason.

“There was mutual interest all along, but obviously there were challenges with how our team was constructed,” Gomes said, referencing the fact the Dodgers’ roster was effectively full prior to the Margot trade.

“Once we were able to line up on the deal with Minnesota,” Gomes added, “it opened up a spot for Kiké and we were able to pull that one through.”

Hernández can play all three outfield spots, giving the Dodgers more flexibility at a position group that figures to have only two non-platoon players: Outman and offseason signing Teoscar Hernández.

Hernández can also slot in at any spot in the infield, providing some defensive insurance for Max Muncy at third base, Gavin Lux at shortstop, Mookie Betts at second and even Freddie Freeman at first.

Like last year, Hernández probably won’t be an everyday player for the Dodgers, who see him as more of a weapon versus left-handed pitching (he has a career .801 OPS against lefties, and .667 OPS against righties).

But even as a part-time platoon player, Hernández could still have an impact.

Whenever Outman needs a day off, Hernández can play center. In games Jason Heyward sits against left-handed starters, Hernández can take his place in the lineup. On days Hernández doesn’t start, he can serve as a pinch-hit option off the bench. And if the Dodgers do reach the postseason as many expect, Hernández has an impressive October resume, with a .274 batting average in 72 career playoff games.

“The regular-season fit is very helpful and obvious,” Gomes said. ”And the known quantity of, we’ve seen Kiké [play well] time and time again in the postseason, is a nice added benefit of being able to bring him back.”

It doesn’t mean the Puerto Rican native — who underwent double hernia surgery in October but was expected to be back to normal baseball activities by the start of spring — is guaranteed to produce.

Hernández hasn’t batted better than .250 since 2018. Since then, he has posted an above-league-average OPS+ (an all-encompassing offensive statistic) just once.

Last year was shaping up to be a low point for Hernández, who was batting .222 with a .599 OPS when the Boston Red Sox traded him to the Dodgers.

And though he was better the rest of the way, batting .262 with a .731 OPS after returning to Chavez Ravine, his OPS+ with the Dodgers was slightly below the league average.

Those risks, of course, won’t matter much to a Dodgers fan base that embraced Hernández during his first stint with the club from 2015 to 2020, then welcomed him back with rousing ovations after last year’s trade.

Just as they — and many people within the organization — had hoped, Hernández is set to stay in the Southland in 2024, making for one more noteworthy move in a Dodgers offseason that has been full of them.

“He understands his value and what kind of player he is, a championship player,” manager Dave Roberts said. “Obviously, any roster that he’s on, he makes the ballclub better.”

I watched a little of the Rays-Jays game today, and 2 old friends were in it: Justin and Pepperman. Pepperman looked pretty much like he did for our team last year, locating the ball very well but with little movement. He was a little rocky in the 1st, walking 1 and giving 2 singles but got out of it with 2 clutch Ks including Justin. The 2nd inning he allowed a single and another K.

I wish Pepperman well and I'll be rooting for the Rays this year and will be battling the Jays and Orioles and maybe the Yanks. And what rotten luck for me! I purchased his Dodger jersey about a week before he got traded! Oh well, the trade is a win-win for both teams and I hope to see Pepperman vs Glassman in a game this year.

The Jays will surely improve with a vet like Justin on the roster. He can still hit. He got a single his second AB today.

No. Margot runs. We can't have that. 

Hilarious Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto Moment Going Viral After Dodgers Debut

Story by Noah Camras • 7h

Yoshinobu Yamamoto made his Cactus League debut on Wednesday, and dazzled the crowd at Surprise Stadium.

The Dodgers' $325 million man threw 19 pitches across two innings of work, with 16 of them coming for strikes. He had three strikeouts and allowed one hit, but quickly got a double play and ended up facing the minimum number of batters.

Yamamoto had a surprise guest (no pun intended) to watch him play on Wednesday: $700 million man Shohei Ohtani.

Ohtani made the trip to Surprise to watch Yamamoto play, saying he wanted to support his fellow Japanese teammate in his debut.

Ohtani also helped Yamamoto in the second inning when there was some confusion on the mound.

After Yamamoto's dominant second inning — in which he only needed eight pitches and struck out two Rangers — he lost track of how many outs he had recorded.

Yamamoto appeared to be doing a walk to get ready to face another batter, but fortunately, he got some assistance from Ohtani who motioned him to get off the mound because the inning was over.



After Yamamoto's debut, he spoke to the media, and was asked what Ohtani thought of his performance. Yamamoto said Ohtani called it "so-so." Clearly, Ohtani's a harsh critic.

Jokes aside, Yamamoto was absolutely dominant in his debut, and said he used just four of the pitches in his reporter: a fastball, cutter, splitter and curveball. His splitter was nasty, making the opposing hitters look silly in his two innings of work.



Yamamoto will likely make another start early next week, as he gets set to start one of the Dodgers' first two games of the season in Korea.

Kenley Jansen sounds miserable waiting for Red Sox to trade him

Story by Erich Richter • 5h

Featured games of the Boston Red Sox

Kenley Jansen isn’t bustling with joy at spring training in Fort Meyers, Fla., as he prepares for his second season as the Boston Red Sox closer.

“I just have to have the mindset that I need to get ready regardless, right?” Jansen told the Boston Globe on Wednesday. “So all the buzz that’s going on around me, all that stuff, it’s not time for me to focus on it.”

Jansen has been the subject of trade rumors that he hopes would bring him to a team with postseason aspirations.

The 36-year-old helped the Dodgers win the 2020 World Series and has a career 2.20 postseason ERA in 65 1/3 innings.

There has been some noise that the Dodgers could re-acquire Jansen, but those trade talks are likely to continue into the season.
Boston is projected to finish last in the AL East having torn down its roster, and Jansen being one of the few remaining pieces of a once-win-now movement.

“The vision then, the vision now is totally different,” Jansen said of his decision to sign with the Red Sox ahead of last season. “But I can’t question myself, man. There is frustration because you have other options, but I think playing in Boston and being in Fenway is special, and I always wanted to experience that.”

Jansen appeared in 51 games as a member of the Red Sox in a disappointing 78-84 last-place season.

He seems to have some buyer’s remorse with the two-year, $32 million contract he signed.

Lefty veteran Chris Sale was traded to Atlanta in a shocking move, while fellow veterans Justin Turner and James Paxton departed in free agency.

This year’s spring training roster is littered with young, unproven talent that the front office hopes will get Boston to a place where they can compete but for less money.

“Understanding that some other teams have bigger payrolls — not saying more talent, for you to be in the big leagues you got to have some kind of talent — but with more established players on other rosters, these guys are young and have to believe in themselves now,” Jansen said.

The Boston Globe notes that Jansen could be moved in a trade for a prospect or two to help shed some of the $16 million Jansen is owed this season.

The team also brought in another late leverage arm, Liam Hendriks, further complicating Jansen’s role on the current roster.

But that trade isn’t expected to happen until the season starts and potentially could happen around the trade deadline.

“It is tough,” he said. “We’ll see how the season starts.”