Dodgers predicted to offer long-term deal to All-Star headed ‘for over $100 million’

The Los Angeles Dodgers have surged to baseball’s best record, largely thanks to major offseason spending.

They opened up their checkbook to the tune of more than $1 billion ahead of this season. That landed superstar free agents like Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto on long-term deals. But one of their savviest additions has proved to be slugger Teoscar Hernández, who has excelled on a one-year, $23.5 million contract.

Hernández has slashed .267/.335/.494 this year, earning the second All-Star nod of his career and ranking behind only Ohtani among the team’s leaders in runs, hits, homers and RBI.

Now, as the slugger looks ahead to another year of free agency, he’s been projected for a nine-figure deal with the Dodgers setting his price with an extension offer.

“I don’t see why not, a five-year deal for over $100 million,” USA Today’s Bob Nightengale predicted for Hernández on a recent episode of “Dodgers Nation.” “I think the Dodgers will kind of set a price, just like they did with other guys, whether it’s (Corey) Seager or somebody else. ‘We’re willing to go to this, if (the price) is higher, then we’ll look elsewhere.’ He fit in nicely. They love the job he’s done. It’s hard to find those guys. Why not bring him back?”

Hernández has outslugged his nine-year career slash line of .262/.319/.487 this year but there’s reason to believe a long-term deal could pay dividends, as he’s hit more than 25 homers in each of the last four seasons. He’s also brought an enthusiastic presence to the Dodgers’ clubhouse and some crucial depth following Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman in the batting order.

And while Hernández is set to explore all of his options this winter, if the Dodgers do offer a competitive deal for next season and beyond, he’s signaled his inclination to take it.

“If I got the chance to stay here for two, three years, I would like to stay,” the slugger told The Orange County Register’s Bill Plunkett. “I like everything that this team, this organization, they do. For me, I’d feel really good if they come to me and offer me an extension.”

More MLB: Orioles phenom gets near-failing grade as rookie season deemed a ‘flop’