SAN ANTONIO — Before most of the Dodgers front office had arrived in San Antonio on Monday for Major League Baseball’s annual general managers meetings, pressure already was being applied on Andrew Friedman and Co.
Less than a week removed from winning the World Series, several Dodgers voiced their desire for the team to keep its core intact for next year for a title defense.
At a fan event Monday morning, Kiké Hernández pounded that drum, stating his wish to remain with the Dodgers as he enters free agency following an up-and-down regular season but a monstrous October performance.
“I really, really hope I’m back next year so we can run it back,” Hernández said to more than 500 fans at a Raising Cane’s restaurant in Alhambra, receiving raucous applause. “So make sure you guys talk to Friedman and those guys, and let them know.”
Manager Dave Roberts not-so-subtly hinted the same during an interview on Mookie Betts’ “On Base” podcast, when asked what was on his holiday wishlist for the team.
“I want to bring back a guy we had in the bullpen this year,” he said with a sly grin, referring to free agent Blake Treinen, who became the Dodgers’ most trusted reliever in the playoffs.
“I would love for Santa to bring me another bullpen arm who is a high-leverage free agent,” he said, seemingly alluding to the Dodgers’ other veteran free-agent reliever, Joe Kelly.
“And I want to bring a guy that had a couple big homers for us in the postseason … and is from a Latin American country,” he added with a laugh, a description that applied to both Kiké Hernández and fellow free-agent outfielder Teoscar Hernández.
The front office already started putting plans into action this week. The team picked up its club options for veteran shortstop Miguel Rojas and backup catcher Austin Barnes. Longtime pitcher Clayton Kershaw declined his player option but intends to return on a new contract. Teoscar Hernández said he would “do everything in my power to come back” too.
However, much work remains to be done.
On Monday, the Dodgers declined to extend a one-year, $21-million qualifying offer to pitcher Walker Buehler, leaving the door open for other teams to attempt to sign him in free agency.
Another starting pitcher, Southland native and key trade deadline acquisition Jack Flaherty, also is on the market, where he might fetch offers beyond what the Dodgers are willing to spend.
The Dodgers almost certainly will have to make additions too. Their rotation remains in need of reinforcements, in a year when the free-agent market is headlined by two former Cy Young award winners whom they’ve had interest in, Blake Snell and Corbin Burnes, and might include 23-year-old Japanese star Roki Sasaki if he is posted by his Nippon Professional Baseball club.
The lineup will need to be bolstered too, either through the addition of an outfielder (the Dodgers have the money and track record to appeal to this year’s biggest free agent, Juan Soto) or a full-time shortstop (Willy Adames, another longtime target of the Dodgers, is the biggest name among that position group on the market).
Still, several Dodgers felt like the roster proved itself greater than the sum of its parts in the playoffs, managing to overcome a litany of starting pitching injuries by creating a clubhouse culture that Kiké Hernández compared to the 2020 World Series-winning squad.
“It took every single one of us in the locker room to do what we accomplished, and that doesn’t happen without the unit,” Hernández said. “That is the one thing that stands out the most about our October run, is how close we were. It brings memories back to 2020. That’s why we did well in 2020.
“But in 2020, we were all locked in a hotel for a month. And this year, to be able to be that together throughout a whole month, when everybody gets to go back home after games, you can only hope to be able to bring the whole group back and run it back next year again.”
In many ways, the Dodgers’ approach to both Hernándezes will serve as a signal of how strong that hope is in the front office.
Teoscar Hernández should be in line for a big payday after his 33-homer campaign, and a robust market might test how far the Dodgers are willing to go to keep him.
Kiké Hernández offers a different proposition, with the club having to weigh his regular-season struggles (he batted just .229 and had a below-league-average on-base-plus-slugging percentage with his postseason heroics (he batted .294 and hit two key home runs in the division and championship series).
Both players became glue guys on a team that, while lacking one overarching leader, bonded by getting contributions from across the roster. And both could help replicate that culture again.
“We won the World Series a couple days ago, but I truly believe that this team is going to be even better next year,” Kiké Hernández said. “I know there’s going to be a lot of moving pieces. But, you know, a guy can only hope.”