If the Mets don’t land their top target in Juan Soto
When it comes to bolstering their outfield this offseason, the Mets have made it pretty clear that they’d love to add Juan Soto to their roster. But if they were to fail to sign Soto or simply want to stack their roster with corner outfielders, Teoscar Hernández could make sense for them coming off his good 2024 season with the Dodgers.
Following a down year with the Mariners in 2023, Hernández signed a one-year, $23.5 million deal with the Dodgers ahead of the 2024 season. He went on to hit .272/.339/.501 with 33 home runs, 12 stolen bases, and a 134 wRC+. That level of production at the plate was right on par with what he had done from 2020 through 2022 with the Blue Jays.
Defensively, Hernández spent the majority of his time in Los Angeles playing left field, but he has plenty of experience in both corner outfielder spots. Unfortunately, Statcast rated him as one of the worst defenders in the game in left this year. In 2023, he was a middle-of-the-pack defender in right.
The 32-year-old right-handed hitter figures to get more than a one-year deal this time around in free agency, and the Mets do have a pair of corner outfielders making good money on their roster right now: Brandon Nimmo in left and Starling Marte in right. There’s little question that Hernández projects to be a better hitter than Marte in 2025.
It would be somewhat surprising to see the Mets pursue Hernández if they do land Soto, who would most likely be the team’s everyday right fielder at least the start of a long-term contract. But the Mets have vacancies at first base and designated hitter right now, too, and their middle of the lineup would look pretty formidable if both Soto and Hernández were inserted into it.
The crowdsourced projections at FanGraphs think Hernández will get a three-year, $69 million deal. There are only a few hitters on the market who are certainly better than him, and maybe the Mets decide they aren’t interested because of the logjam they might create in the corner outfield spots. But if he could be convinced to primarily play as a designated hitter, well, the Mets could certainly do worse things with that slot in their lineup.