Shortly after haggling his manner out of free-agent purgatory and into a brand new contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Kiké Hernández requested his spouse, Mariana, to research one other market. She contacted former Dodger Wealthy Hill’s spouse, Caitlin, with a request: Might the Hernándezes reside within the Hills’ home once more?
The Hills had purchased the property, situated within the Toluca Lake neighborhood, in 2017, quickly after Wealthy signed a $48 million contract. The household determined to not promote it after Hill’s last season with the group in 2019. The home has since develop into a well-liked vacation spot amongst Dodgers personnel. Catcher Austin Barnes lived there one season. Supervisor Dave Roberts has inquired about its availability. When Hernández rejoined the group ultimately 12 months’s commerce deadline, he moved into the home, which is a handy 20-minute drive from Dodger Stadium, with entry to 3 completely different highways.
“It’s very interesting, due to the situation,” Hill mentioned.
However that’s not its solely promoting level; virtually as essential is that the house owner understands his tenants’ nomadic baseball way of life.
When trying to find a spot to reside, gamers usually depend upon one another’s suggestions, connections, and familiarity with baseball’s distinctive schedule and journey. That has led to a unique type of sizzling range market every winter, when baseball gamers purchase, promote and commerce houses amongst themselves — swapping homes, directing younger gamers to the proper spots and passing sure key properties down because the cycle repeats itself.
It’s not unusual for gamers to report back to spring coaching with out a residence for the common season. Typically free brokers signal later than anticipated; generally trades occur with out warning. Within the last days of February, Toronto Blue Jays infielder Justin Turner was nonetheless in search of a lease within the suburbs of Toronto to sync up along with his one-year, $13 million contract. Caleb Ferguson, a New York Yankees reliever acquired in early February, was scrambling to search out someplace on Manhattan’s Higher East Aspect with a park close by for his new child son. Shocked by a Feb. 11 commerce from the Miami Marlins, Minnesota Twins reliever Steven Okert mentioned he had “no thought” the place he would reside within the Twin Cities. “I’ve by no means even been there earlier than,” Okert mentioned.
The first drawback is the size of the lease. The common season lasts about six months. Renting a home usually requires an extended dedication. “It’s at all times a ache,” Yankees infielder DJ LeMahieu mentioned. He described the method of discovering housing as “all through my time in skilled baseball, one of many hardest issues to do,” which is why his spouse, Jordan, takes care of it. Spouses usually shoulder the load: Yency Almonte, the reliever who was traded from the Dodgers to the Chicago Cubs in January, will reside this summer season within the Chicagoland dwelling of Joe Kelly, the reliever who was traded from the Chicago White Sox to the Dodgers final summer season; their wives brokered the deal.
Yankee Stadium is DJ LeMahieu’s on-field dwelling; he rents one other residence to his fellow ballplayers. (Alex Trautwig / MLB through Getty Photographs)
Within the offseason, LeMahieu lives within the Detroit suburb of Birmingham, Mich., the place he owns two houses. For practically a decade, he has rented out the secondary residence to numerous Tigers. So many gamers have stayed there that LeMahieu has misplaced monitor. The primary tenant was second baseman Ian Kinsler. The longest-standing resident was pitcher Daniel Norris. “I believe all of them left the locations higher than they discovered them,” LeMahieu mentioned. “I got here again and there was new stuff. Tremendous clear. I used to be like, ‘Wow, this labored out very well.’”
In 2022, his last 12 months in Milwaukee, reliever Brent Suter lived in a house as soon as occupied by former Brewers teammate Corey Knebel. Suter rented a townhouse by way of VRBO for his 2023 season with the Colorado Rockies. When he signed for 2024 with the Cincinnati Reds, his hometown group, Suter didn’t have to seek for a home. However he did have the ballplayer community to thank.
Just a few years earlier, whereas pitching for Cincinnati, Wade Miley bought a four-bedroom dwelling in close by Anderson Township, Ohio. An older couple began constructing on so much throughout the road. Miley ultimately realized his new neighbors have been Suter’s in-laws. He referred to as his former teammate. “Once I’m accomplished with the Reds, I’m promoting you this home,” Miley informed Suter. Suter laughed on the supply. When Cincinnati positioned Miley on waivers after the 2021 season, Suter obtained one other textual content: “Go try the home. We’ll open the storage for you.” Miley, Suter defined, “hooked us up with our dream home for all times.”
Throughout his time with the Cleveland Guardians, first baseman Carlos Santana lived in Bratenahl, Ohio, an prosperous suburb on the shores of Lake Erie. After Santana signed a three-year, $60 million cope with the Philadelphia Phillies heading into 2018, he rented his dwelling to former teammate Edwin Encarnación. Santana didn’t final lengthy in Philadelphia. The Phillies shipped him to the Seattle Mariners in December of 2018. Lower than two weeks later, the Mariners traded Santana to Cleveland — in alternate for Encarnación. Santana moved again into his outdated home.
Edwin Encarnación and Carlos Santana have been Cleveland teammates in 2017. After that, issues acquired extra sophisticated. (Duane Burleson / Getty Photographs)
Don’t take complete pity on these athletes, who play in a league the place the big-league minimal wage is $740,000. Groups present them sources, suggestions and actual property brokers. Their very own brokers usually do the identical. The collective bargaining settlement comprises provisions that compensate them for his or her residing bills if they’re minimize or traded.
Their privilege nonetheless comprises issues, and never each serendipitous swap ends fortunately. In the summertime of 2005, the Boston Crimson Sox acquired an infielder named Alex Cora from Cleveland in alternate for fellow infielder Ramón Vázquez. The 2 Puerto Ricans have been associates. They agreed to commerce homes. “The worth was the identical,” Cora mentioned. He had been residing in a four-bedroom, two-story place with a yard. He was aghast when he moved into Vázquez’s residence close to Faneuil Corridor. “It was a one-bedroom, a f—ing matchbox,” Cora mentioned.
The greenback does stretch additional away from the coasts. Ferguson, the Yankees reliever, grew up about 20 minutes exterior of Columbus, Ohio, the house of Cleveland’s Triple-A affiliate. He harbors goals of renting his dwelling there to one of many Clippers. He joked about his willingness to pay the utilities for potential tenants so long as they paid his mortgage. “I don’t wish to generate income off of you — I simply wish to cease shedding it,” Ferguson mentioned.
Wealthy Hill stumbled into his position as the owner of the Dodgers. In the course of the 2021 season, Hill heard Barnes was commuting about two hours roundtrip to the ballpark. Barnes and his spouse, Nicole, had a new child son. The driving was draining. Hill talked about that his place in Toluca Lake was empty. “It’s a very nice home,” Barnes mentioned. “He simply allow us to reside there.”
Barnes had higher luck than Roberts, who discovered the home occupied when he requested Hill about renting it. Hernández met the identical destiny after signing his new cope with the Dodgers. Hill was already renting to a household for 2024. Seems, non-ballplayers want homes, too.
“As a lot as I wish to hire it to the blokes,” Hill mentioned, “I can’t kick the folks out who’re there proper now.”
(The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya, Chad Jennings, Zack Meisel, C. Trent Rosecrans and Sahadev Sharma contributed to this report.)
(Illustration by Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; Photograph of Kiké Hernández: Michael Zagaris / Oakland Athletics / Getty Photographs; Photograph of Wealthy Hill: Will Newton / Getty Photographs; Photograph of Wade Miley: Frank Jansky / Icon Sportswire )
