Teoscar Hernandez's name just entered trade deadline speculation, and it's not hard to see why Toronto might want another look at a familiar face.
Jeff Passan reported Hernandez could be on the move out of Los Angeles before the deadline.
"With the lack of RHH and the Dodgers' minor league outfield depth, Hernández could potentially be on the move," Passan wrote.
Hernandez is hitting .251 with eight home runs across 71 games for the defending champion Dodgers this season, solid depth production for a team that's been baseball's best all year at 67-39.
That kind of surplus depth in the minors is exactly what tends to make a productive veteran expendable on a stacked roster, even one performing reasonably well.
Toronto knows Hernandez well from his earlier years in the organization, before he moved on and built a real career elsewhere in the league.
A reunion like this would give the Blue Jays a right-handed bat with real power history, even in what's been a more modest season by his own standard this year.
Toronto's outfield situation has needed reinforcements for much of this season, between injuries to players like Jonatan Clase and inconsistent production across multiple spots.
Why this connection makes some sense for both sides
The Dodgers moving a useful veteran for organizational reasons, rather than performance issues, often means the return doesn't need to be enormous to get a deal done.
Toronto, sitting at 48-58 and reportedly selling off several veterans of its own, would need to balance adding a player like Hernandez against the broader direction this front office has taken all month.
It's a bit like a company letting go of a good employee simply because there's too much overlapping talent already on staff, opportunity elsewhere becoming the logical next step.
Does adding a bat like Hernandez actually make sense for a team that's spent the past few weeks selling off its own veterans, or would this move contradict Toronto's broader deadline direction entirely?
Whatever happens, a familiar name re-entering the conversation adds an interesting wrinkle to how Toronto approaches the days remaining before August 3.
Would you want the Blue Jays to bring back Teoscar Hernandez before the trade deadline?
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