If you have a bag of sunflower seeds, throw them in the air.
Theo is back.
Three loud claps, a dazzling smile, and a deafening scream.
Theo is back.
The Dodgers’ heart is still beating. The Dodgers’ soul still trembles. The Dodgers are still the Dodgers.
A front office that listens to fans and respects team culture announced this Friday that the Dodgers re-signed Teoscar Hernandez to a three-year, $66 million contract, replacing last season’s championship hero Teoscar Hernandez. I was convinced that we had agreed to keep him where he belonged.
In the dugout, he showers sunflower seeds on his fellow home run hitters. Smooth the path for Shohei Ohtani in the clubhouse. And of course, at the plate, he was a big hit all summer, surrounded by season-defining drives in the National League Division Series and World Series.
Theo is back. Your sigh is as loud as his personality, your relief as palpable as his late swing.
Because, admit it, you were worried. You were even worse than worrying.
After the last bus has sped away, the last emotional speeches have been delivered, and the last hoarse cheers have been uttered, there is little time to savor November’s title celebrations before the other blue shoe is dropped. I started waiting.
Theo was a free agent, so that meant this band of ring holders could break up, and lo and behold!
The Dodgers couldn’t have let such a huge figure walk, could they? They couldn’t have been blinded by analytics, age, and contract length and failed to sign everyone’s favorite newest player, could they?
They may have done so in the past. In the past, there was really little chance that a 32-year-old playing for a fourth team would be rewarded with a lucrative three-year contract based partly on intangibles.
You knew all this and were scared, and it overshadowed your every perception of an otherwise highly successful offseason.
Teoscar Hernandez (right) celebrates with Mookie Betts after hitting a two-run home run in Game 2 of the World Series against the New York Yankees on Oct. 26.
(Wally Scully/Los Angeles Times)
Signing two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell was great, but what about The’o?
October’s extension hero Tommy Edman was a boss move, but where’s Theo?
The addition of smart-swinging left-handed outfielder Michael Conforto was cool, but what does this mean for Te’o?
Blake Treinen is back and Japan’s star pitcher Roki Sasaki may be here too… hello? Theo?
All those concerns were put to rest on Friday afternoon, the time when sports teams usually announce bad news in hopes of being forgotten over the weekend.
This was the opposite. Theo returns and the New Year’s party begins.
In the end, the negotiations were painfully long, but in the near-perfect relationship between star and team, the end result was always clear.
Hernández wanted to stay and had made it clear by the end of the victory parade.
The Dodgers wanted to keep him, not only as an All-Star, but also as an outstanding leader.
Really, it was all very simple. And right now, for the rest of baseball, it’s absolutely suffocating.
The Dodgers don’t need to do anything else this winter and are already better than last season.
The Dodgers hold the key to their 12th National League West championship in 13 seasons by adding two ace pitchers, essentially Snell and Ohtani’s return mound, while maintaining their title core, and their first. They should be the top candidates to become the winning team. They are the first team to win the World Series consecutively since the New York Yankees 25 years ago.
Andrew Friedman and the Dodgers’ ownership group understand this team and this market like every front office in franchise history. They continued to be a monster, hitting 33 home runs and driving in 99 RBIs, bringing back players with arguably the team’s more exciting personalities.
Look at their lineup. There are regular season MVPs, National League Championship Series MVPs, World Series MVPs, and home run derby champions galore.
Let’s take a look at the rotation led by four aces: Ohtani, Snell, Tyler Glasnow, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
And the bullpen could be anchored by a veteran who shut out the New York Yankees in 2 1/3 innings in the World Series deciding game, so keeping Treinen is a sneaky good move.
If possible, Friedman would have had a winter as exciting as Hernandez’s Game 5 Division Series home run.
It may sound crazy, but Friedman has worked hard this offseason to match Hernandez’s two-run double in Game 5 of the World Series.
It all became clear in two words that appeared on Hernández’s Instagram Story on Friday afternoon.
“I’m back,” he wrote.
Run, you yelled.
