Teoscar Hernández puts the ball back in Dodgers' court with qualifying offer decision

The Dodgers offering Teoscar Hernández the qualifying offer at the Nov. 4 deadline was a no-brainer. It showed that the club was happy to keep him on for at least another season after an All-Star year in LA, but if he rejected it and ended up signing with another team, it'd mean that the Dodgers would get a Competitive Balance draft pick in 2025.

It never really made sense for Hernández to accept. He signed for $23.5 million in 2024 and had his best season in years, so it only stands to reason that he would go back onto the free agent market looking for a multiyear deal and more money.

Hernández's eagerness to stay in LA might've left a tiny glimmer of hope that he might accept the QO and return to the Dodgers without needing to go back to the negotiating table, where things could potentially get complicated.

But a few hours before the decision deadline, Francys Romero reported that Hernández had done the obvious (and smart) thing and rejected the QO, fully releasing him onto the free agent market.

Teoscar Hernández does the expected and rejects Dodgers' qualifying offer

MLB Trade Rumors predicts that Hernández will make less annually in free agency than he did this year ($20 million a year), but he'll get more years and therefore more job security out of the deal, while The Athletic predicts both three years and more money ($25 million a year). Either way, it's understandable that Hernández would feel that he's earned some assurance from whatever club he eventually signs with that he'll be there for more than one season.

All signs point to the Dodgers still being the favorites to re-sign Hernández, and Brandon Gomes has said that LA planned to reenter negotiations with him. However, suitors have already come out of the woodwork in the form of the Red Sox, Orioles, and Yankees, the first of whom had their eye on Hernández last season and even offered him multiple years before he decided to sign with the Dodgers.

We've been hammering this point home a lot, but the Dodgers shouldn't overestimate the fact that Hernández wants to stay in LA and take that as a sign that they can drag their feet on re-signing him. After the kind of season he just had, the Dodgers should expect other teams to be aggressive in courting him, and they can't spend too long being indecisive about whether or not to bring him back.