4:04pm: Boston is prone to obtain a pair of higher minors aid pitchers, stories Alex Speier of the Boston Globe (Twitter hyperlink).
3:28pm: The Dodgers and Purple Sox have agreed to a commerce that’ll ship infielder/outfielder Enrique Hernandez again to Los Angeles, report Ken Rosenthal and Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic. David Vassegh of SportsNet L.A. reported earlier within the afternoon that the 2 sides have been actively discussing a commerce involving Hernandez, spent the 2015-20 seasons with the Dodgers.
Hernandez, 31, is struggling via one of many worst seasons of his profession, batting simply .222/.279/.320 in 323 plate appearances. The offseason damage of Trevor Story — which required elbow surgical procedure — prompted the Sox to maneuver Hernandez from heart area to shortstop. The outcomes weren’t fairly, with Hernandez returning to a place he’d barely performed since 2018 and posting among the lowest defensive grades of any participant at any place (-6 Defensive Runs Saved, -13 Outs Above Common in simply 484 innings).
The extent to which the defensive struggles additionally impacted Hernandez’s mindset on the plate can’t be identified, however his manufacturing hasn’t dipped to this degree because the 2016 season. He’s hitting .260 towards left-handed pitching — albeit with a lowly .314 OBP and .338 slugging proportion — however has been a nonfactor towards right-handed pitching (.209/.266/.314).
Struggles on each side of the ball however, Hernandez is a profession .259/.346/.465 hitter towards southpaws. The Dodgers will hope {that a} return to the staff he known as dwelling for almost all of his profession can deliver a couple of turnaround on the plate and/or on the sector. Los Angeles has hit effectively towards lefties as a staff, however that’s typically been regardless of poor manufacturing from a solid of outfielders that has appeared misplaced towards southpaws. All of David Peralta, Trayce Thompson and Jason Heyward have struggled in that regard. James Outman is getting on base at a .366 tempo towards lefties however not hitting for energy and hanging out at a 34% clip. Chris Taylor has gotten on base at a lowly .268 clip however not less than hit lefties for energy.
There’s no assure that Hernandez will enhance the staff’s general manufacturing towards southpaws, however he’s a low-cost roll of the cube as a bench participant who’s had success in simply any such restricted function earlier than — with this very staff, no much less. Provided that the Dodgers have been biking via journeyman like Yonny Hernandez and Jake Marisnick on the bench, there’s some sense to looking for some lower-cost stability. Hernandez figures to be a boon within the clubhouse on the very least, and any massive early hits following the swap will clearly be well-received by a fanbase with which he was common throughout his final tenure. There’s minimal threat in displacing Hernandez or whoever the roster casualty could show to be, although the Dodger trustworthy will certainly be hoping this commerce is merely a footnote amongst a bigger slate of deadline transactions moderately than a focus of the entrance workplace’s method to upgrading the roster.
For the Purple Sox, with Story nearing a return, they’ll subtract Hernandez from their glut of middle-infield and outfield choices. Jarren Duran’s emergence in heart area put a severe dent in Hernandez’s function with the staff — notably with Masataka Yoshida and Alex Verdugo locked into the corners. Yu Chang is a extra versatile infield defender, in the meantime, and the Sox apparently choose to proceed giving the extra controllable Christian Arroyo alternatives over Hernandez — a pending free agent taking part in on a one-year, $10MM contract extension he signed final winter.
Per Roster Useful resource, the Dodgers had a $228MM payroll and $245MM luxury-tax invoice previous to buying Hernandez, who’s nonetheless owed about $3.66MM of that $10MM wage. Even when they have been to choose up the total freight of the remaining wage on the deal, Hernandez wouldn’t put Boston wherever close to the third tier of luxury-tax penalization, which begins at $273MM and is the purpose at which groups see their prime decide within the following yr’s draft pushed again by 10 spots. As a third-time luxurious tax offender within the midst of the primary penalty bracket, the Dodgers would pay a 50% dollar-for-dollar tax on all overages. As such, Hernandez’s remaining $3.66MM really would quantity to about $5.48MM by way of whole expenditure — if there’s no money altering palms within the deal.
