On the same day the Dodgers officially welcomed back one of the key pieces of their 2024 World Series team in Teoscar Hernández, they made an unexpected addition in free agency, as well.

Shortly before the Dodgers finalized their three-year, $66 million re-signing of Hernández, the team also reached an agreement Friday to sign South Korean infielder Hyeseong Kim, a 25-year-old utilityman with a prized glove and, in the words of general manager Brandon Gomes, some “real upside to the bat.”

Kim’s deal, which will be for three years and $12.5 million plus a two-year option in 2028 and 2029 that could raise its value to $22 million, added another versatile player into the Dodgers’ title-defense plans — but also raised speculation about further moves potentially coming to the team’s 2025 roster.

Read more: Teoscar Hernández agrees to three-year, $66-million deal with the Dodgers

"I think it's more that we're adding a really talented player, and [then we'll] see where things play out,” Gomes said of Kim’s addition, downplaying the idea the Dodgers now need to immediately trade away another player from their suddenly crowded collection of infielders. “It's helpful to have really strong pieces at a lot of different areas. So that's how we're viewing it right now.”

During eight seasons in the Korean Baseball Organization, the left-handed-hitting Kim batted .304 while playing second base, shortstop, third base and left field.

After being posted by his Korean club, the Kiwoom Heroes, earlier this offseason, Kim’s deadline to sign with an MLB team was Friday.

Coincidentally, the news came shortly before a previously scheduled news conference for Hernández, who agreed to re-sign with the Dodgers last week after amassing 33 home runs and 99 RBIs on a one-year contract in 2024.

“A one-year flier on a player doesn't always [turn] into an extension or multiyear deal,” said manager Dave Roberts, sitting alongside Gomes and Hernández in the Dodger Stadium right field club. “But just what he did for us and how he made everyone better, it was a no-brainer.”

Read more: Plaschke: Fans are heard, title hopes are solidified, Teoscar Hernández is back with Dodgers

Indeed, retaining Hernández always seemed like an important task for the Dodgers this offseason, especially as they try to preserve the clubhouse culture that keyed their run to a 2024 title.

In his first year with the team, Hernández filled a crucial role both on the field as a run-producer behind star hitters Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, and also with his uplifting veteran presence behind the scenes.

Gomes joked that even his 8-year-old daughter “has been asking me every day since the end of the season, ‘Are we bringing Teo back?’”

“All jokes aside, I do think that speaks volumes about who Teo is as a player and a person,” Gomes added. “You can feel the energy that he brings to the clubhouse, the infectious smile that he has each and every day.”

Though Hernández settled for a one-year contract with the Dodgers last winter when his free-agent market didn’t develop as he hoped, he said staying in Los Angeles was his main priority this year, and that he was willing to take less money (as well as the $23 million in deferrals included in his new deal) to do it.

“The Dodgers, they’re different,” Hernández said. “They think about everybody. Not only the players, not only the things I can do on the field. For me, they just give me the confidence. I never got that really in the other places that I worked. They trust in everything that I can give them, and to this team and this organization. And that was one of the biggest things for me, that pushed me to the best job that I can do.”

Kim’s arrival, however, could signal more potential changes coming to the club’s 2025 roster, leaving the team with a crowded crop of middle infield options entering next year.

Gomes said the Dodgers’ current “mindset” is to still play Mookie Betts at shortstop and Gavin Lux at second base, as they had been planning prior to Kim’s signing.

The team might have to divvy up playing time beyond them, though, with Miguel Rojas, Chris Taylor and Tommy Edman also on the roster (though Edman, who signed a five-year contract extension earlier this winter, could primarily play center field alongside Hernández in right and Michael Conforto in left).

Kim’s signing might also lessen the Dodgers’ need for another utilityman such as Kiké Hernández, the only position player from last year’s World Series roster not still under contract with the club.

The Dodgers, of course, could always explore a trade to streamline their depth chart. But Lux, long the subject of such rumors, has been repeatedly praised by team officials for his performance down the stretch last year after returning from a torn anterior cruciate ligament in 2023. Rojas and Taylor, meanwhile, are both coming off 2024 campaigns marked by either inconsistent health (Rojas played just 103 regular-season games despite batting .283, and was out for much the playoffs) or performance (Taylor batted a full-season career-low of .202 while battling his own injuries) as they each enter their final season under contract.

For now, Gomes insisted that the Dodgers “don't feel like there's anything necessarily that we need to do,” and pointed to the team’s injury problems last year as a reason to preserve as much depth as possible going into spring training.

On Friday, the only other move that was required of the club to finalize Hernández’s and Kim’s contracts was opening a 40-man roster spot, which it did by designating minor-league catcher and former top prospect Diego Cartaya for assignment.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.