The door is wide open for Blue Jays to bring back Teoscar Hernandez

The Toronto Blue Jays were stuck beating themselves up for letting Teoscar Hernandez go. During the 2022-23 offseason, they traded Hernandez to the Seattle Mariners, where he played a single season before signing with the Los Angeles Dodgers in free agency.

But the Blue Jays should have never let him go in the first place.

During his time with Toronto, Hernandez slashed .263/.320/.503 with 129 home runs in 609 games. He routinely put up .800 OPS seasons and it seemed as though his future was with Toronto, but the front office cheaped out and opted to trade him rather than pay him.

Hernandez was great with the Dodgers this season, slashing .272/.339/.501 with a career high 33 home runs. Hernandez is set to enter free agency in the offseason after signing a one year contract with the Dodgers last season.

But, the door seems to be more open than ever for the Blue Jays to reunite with their former longtime slugger.

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Dodgers-Hernandez not engaged in contract extension talks, opening door for Blue Jays reunion

Hernandez has confirmed that the Dodgers haven't had any in-season contract extension talks with him.

"The Dodgers have not had any in-season extension discussions with Teoscar Hernandez, the slugger told reporters before tonight’s possible elimination game (via Fabian Ardaya of the Athletic). Hernández doesn’t seem bothered by the lack of talks, saying that he’s focused on the season and hasn’t given free agency much thought."

The speculation that the Blue Jays could be a fit to reunite with Hernandez has been growing the entire season as he continued to impress with his bat. But pulling him away from the Dodgers could be difficult given the fact that he's been very vocal that he enjoys being a part of this team.

But don't count out Toronto. Ross Atkins has been vocal that the team wasn't necessarily rebuilding when they were selling at the deadline. More so, they were just dropping their expiring contracts and reloading their roster for 2025.

With that in mind, I would expect them to be ultra-aggressive in free agency this year, specifically when it comes to bringing back a player that spent six seasons and over 600 games with the team.

The Dodgers didn't extend him during the season. They didn't even attempt to do it. The door is wide open if the Blue Jays want to swoop in and try to grab him this Winter.