Dodgers have no plans to trade Teo, but may move him to left field
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ORLANDO, Fla. -- In the days before the baseball world arrived at the Winter Meetings, trade rumors began to swirl around Teoscar Hernández, one offseason after he re-signed with the Dodgers on a three-year, $66 million deal.
But for the time being, it seems more likely that Hernández will stay put -- in L.A., at least.
"Right now," manager Dave Roberts said Monday, "he's our right fielder."
There's some room for interpretation in that response, although general manager Brandon Gomes took a more firm approach to downplaying the trade rumors.
"That doesn't feel likely," Gomes said Monday. "Obviously, you can never say never on those types of things, but Teo, I know that's come up. That's not something we anticipate at all."
What remains on the table is the possibility of Hernández moving from right field to left.
Hernández was worth -9 outs above average in right field this season, which ranked in the third percentile among qualified Major Leaguers. His defense was a focal point during a late August series in Colorado, particularly after two hits fell in front of Hernández in the ninth inning of a stunning walk-off loss to the last-place Rockies.
At the time, Roberts called the prospect of moving Hernández from right to left "a fair question," although the veteran outfielder ultimately remained in right. From then on, Roberts said he was more encouraged by the effort he saw from Hernández in the field, even as he made an error and several other misplays in the postseason.
"Could he move to left? Potentially," Roberts said. "But I will say from my eye test … the last time we were in Denver, from that point on, his right field defense was at least average. So for me, that was sufficient with the bat potential."
Regardless of which of the outfield corners Hernández plays in 2026, the Dodgers could stand to add another outfielder this offseason. Hernández, Andy Pages, Alex Call and Tommy Edman will all return, with Ryan Ward and Esteury Ruiz also on the 40-man roster as depth options.
Edman, who was mostly limited to playing the infield toward the end of 2025 due to a nagging right ankle injury, had an offseason procedure that could delay him early on in '26. Gomes said the team doesn't "expect it to affect a meaningful part of the season" and believes he will be able to go between the infield and outfield once more.
That leaves Pages as the Dodgers' primary center fielder, at least to start the season. Pages acquitted himself well in center with six outs above average in 2025, but his cannon of an arm could be even more of a weapon if he were to shift to right. As the roster stands, that would not appear to be in the cards unless the Dodgers were to acquire someone else capable of playing center.
"I think the benefit of having Andy play the caliber of center that he has makes it such that you don't necessarily need to go that way," Gomes said. "He's obviously double-plus in a corner, but he's a very good center fielder, which is a hard thing to go and acquire, either way, free agency or trade. So knowing that he can do that just allows us flexibility."
Whichever direction the Dodgers go, they have tempered expectations on the magnitude of the moves they expect to make.
In the previous two offseasons, the Dodgers came away with a haul, bringing in stars such as Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Blake Snell, among others. The team still intends to add to the roster this winter, but any additions may not rise to the same level as in years past.
"Obviously, there's opportunities and potential opportunities to upgrade the roster, and we're always kind of looking to do that," Roberts said. "But there's really no big splash we feel needs to be made because this team is still focused and there's some talk about a three-peat. So this is a focused team."