Dodgers bring back Kiké Hernández in trade with Red Sox

TheéHerná Los Angeles Dodgers are reuniting with an old playoff hero in hopes of shoring up several spots on their roster.

Kiké Hernández, whose six years with the Dodgers included a pennant-clinching three-homer performance in the 2017 National League Championship Series and one of the biggest hits in their run to the 2020 World Series title, has been traded by the Boston Red Sox to the Dodgers in exchange for two minor-league pitchers.

Hernández, who turns 32 next month, was in his third season in Boston and can become a free agent after this season. The super utilityman was highly valued in Boston for his ability to play both center field and shortstop, and re-signed for $10 million this season after his original two-year, $14 million deal there expired.

Hernández hit 20 home runs with a .337 on-base percentage in 2021, his first season in Boston, and added five more in the playoffs as the Red Sox made a startling run to the ALCS. But he could not keep up that pace in the following two seasons, batting .222 each of the past two years with his OBP falling to a full-season, career-low .279 this year.

The Red Sox needed to move a body or two with the imminent return of shortstop Trevor Story from elbow surgery. So the Dodgers decided to take a chance that they can rehab the performance of yet another veteran - this one they're all too familiar with.

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Once again, Hernandez is expected to play all over the diamond - spelling Max Muncy at third base and Chris Taylor and Miguel Rojas at shortstop. He can even slide to second and enable Mookie Betts to return to his natural spot of right field.

It's those sort of options that make the Dodgers revere players like Taylor and Hernández; now, it's just a matter of getting him right.

Hernández was a fan favorite with the Dodgers, with no shortage of big moments, including a three-home run performance in Game 5 of the NLCS to lift the Dodgers over the Chicago Cubs and into their first World Series since 1988.

In 2020, the Dodgers trailed the Atlanta Braves 3-2 in the sixth inning of NLCS Game 7, but Hernández's home run off A.J. Minter tied the game and they eventually won it on Cody Bellinger's go-ahead homer.

Now, Bellinger and Joc Pederson and so many of Hernández's cohorts are gone. Yet the Dodgers will seek to find a little more magic from Hernández - as a right-handed hitter, he'll get plenty of assignments facing lefties late in games - as they seek to put away a National League West that they lead by four games.

Boston receives right-handed pitcher Nick Robertson, who appeared in nine games as a reliever for the Dodgers and has been optioned to Class AAA Worcester (Massachusetts), and right-hander Justin Hagenman.