Teoscar Hernandez Can Make Up to $4 Million in Incentives With Dodgers

Andrew Friedman gets creative again.

After agreeing to a one-year deal worth up to $23.5 million, with $15 million being deferred through 2030-39, newly acquired Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Teoscar Hernandez could make even more money through incentives.

According to Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic, Hernandez can trigger $4 million worth of contract incentives in 2024, depending on whether he wins a Silver Slugger award and finishes between first and 15th in National League MVP voting.

Incentives in Teoscar Hernández's Dodgers deal, per source:

- $1 million if he wins Silver Slugger
- $500k if he finishes 11th-15th in MVP voting
- $2 million if he finishes 6th-10th in MVP voting
- $3 million if he finishes 1st-5th in MVP voting

— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) January 8, 2024

If Hernandez finishes among the top five in NL MVP voting, and wins his third career Silver Slugger award, he could quickly find his salary jumping from $23.5 million to $27.5 million.

Even then, Hernández won't get all of that money right away. Since he followed the example of new teammate Shohei Ohtani by deferring much of his 2024 salary ($8.5 million of the $23.5 million total base salary, according to multiple reports), the total payout won't be realized until 2039, when Hernández turns 47.

The deferred money in the contract will Hernández's competitive balance tax hit below $23.5 million. But the contract will still push the Dodgers into the highest CBT threshold, which comes with a 110 percent tax on the overage, since the team has paid a tax each of the last three years:

The Hernandez signing will push the #Dodgers CBT payroll for 2024 to roughly $312 million, according to Cots Contracts, pushing them well past the fourth and final luxury tax threshold of $297 million. https://t.co/thxJRwysnA

— Mike DiGiovanna (@MikeDiGiovanna) January 8, 2024

As Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman has found the right-handed bat he was looking for, he continued the streak of creative contract structures that has served him well in a historic offseason.