Although it wasn’t the blockbuster breaking news that Dodgers fans have been anxiously waiting for, the team announced on Monday morning that they were bringing back 34-year-old right fielder Jason Heyward on a one-year/$9 million deal, as was first reported on Twitter by ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel.

Although the extremely popular Ridgewood, NJ native and first round draft pick in 2007 by the Atlanta Braves out of Henry County High School in McDonough, GA appeared in only 109 of the Dodgers 162 regular season games on defense in 2023, 90 of those games were as the Dodgers right-fielder, thereby allowing future Hall of Famer Mookie Betts to serve as the Dodgers second baseman (70 games) and shortstop (16 games) in addition to his 107 games as the Dodgers primary right fielder. As Dodgers fans know, Betts was initially drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the first round in 2011 out of Overton High School in Nashville as a middle infielder.

Although Heyward will probably see similar playing time on defense in 2024, doing so will allow Dodgers manager Dave Roberts to keep both Betts (with excellent his 2023 .307/.408/.579/.987 slashline and team-best 39 home runs) and Heyward (with his solid 2023 .269/.340/.474/.813 slashline and team seventh-best 15 home runs (tied with Chris Taylor) in his almost everyday line-up.

But in addition to his solid on-field career numbers, Heyward’s greatest contribution to the Dodgers is what he brings to the team behind closed doors. Even before arriving in Los Angeles prior to the 2023 season, the extremely humble 6′-5’/240-pound gentle giant had established himself as a tremendous clubhouse leader during his five seasons with the Braves, seven seasons with the Chicago White Sox, and one season with the St. Louis Cardinals before ever dawning a Dodgers uniform – an intangible that you simply cannot put a price tag or value on.

In other words, re-signing Jason Heyward to a one-year/$9 million contract extension for the 2024 season could go down as the biggest off-season signing by Dodgers President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman – Shohei Ohtani notwithstanding.

Welcome Back J-Hey!

Play Ball!

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