Hernandez thanks Red Sox fans on bobblehead night after being traded

The Boston Red Sox are handing out Enrique Hernandez bobbleheads prior to Wednesday's game against the Kansas City Royals, but there's one problem: Hernandez is no longer with the team.

The Red Sox traded Hernandez to the Los Angeles Dodgers in late July before MLB's trade deadline for right-handed relievers Nick Robertson and Justin Hagenman. Hernandez won't be in attendance for the giveaway, but he wrote a thank-you message the team attached to each bobblehead.

"Thank you to the organization, to the fans, to the city - you will always represent some of the most meaningful years of my life," the 31-year-old said. "Calling Fenway home was and will always be a privilege that I never took for granted."

"We touched base with him after he was traded to tell him we've got this coming up," Red Sox chief marketing officer Adam Grossman said, according to Masslive's Chris Cotillo. "We were inclined to give it away and continue to go through with it as long as he was comfortable with it. He was comfortable.

"For his time here, he had a close relationship with fans. I think fans felt similarly. So we felt like, for all those reasons, why not give it out to the fans?"

Hernandez played two and a half seasons in Boston, dating back to the 2021 campaign. The Red Sox signed him to a one-year, $10-million extension last September, but he struggled while filling in as the team's primary shortstop and hit just .222/.279/.320 with six homers and three steals.

The giveaway was scheduled before the season began, with the franchise giving out a Hernandez bobblehead to the first 7,500 fans in attendance.