4 Realistic Potential Trade Destinations For Gunnar Henderson

The Orioles head of baseball operations, Mike Elias, is pushing a whole lotta nothing out in Las Vegas about what he intends to do this offseason, but certain things stand out.

They aren’t going to spend anything real in free agency, they want to make a bunch of trades (unless they don’t), and Gunnar Henderson is by no means off the table no matter how they want to couch it from moment to moment. And MLB knows it because they just watched Elias auction off the first player he ever drafted, Adley Rutchman, in the summer, and waiting until the deadline rather than moving him at the winter meetings cost them value (no matter how much they got for him in the end).

There are teams that absolutely are desperate for a shortstop, and Henderson is a contract that anyone can assume with two arbitration years, and this is exactly the type of player other GM’s are coveting with a lockout looming. Some teams are a better fit than others, but these four teams are certainly not being shy about their interest in upgrading at shortstop, and there are bold and interesting trades that could be made with them.

Braves

Names Of Note: SP Spencer Schwellenbach, SP AJ Smith-Shawver, RP Didier Fuentes, CF Eric Hartman

Skinny: They have more pitchers than they need if they can keep a few healthy, and the pipeline always seems deep, regardless. They have legit World Series aspirations, I believe them that they are not trading Ronald Acuna, but they do have a wheeler-dealer GM and I know their player-development apparatus would believe it could fix Henderson.

Either starter could be a frontline guy in Baltimore, and Fuentes looks like a Cy Young caliber closer in the making. Hartman is a year away, but has the rare attributes included boffo sprint speeds and acceleration, to be a dominant CF who bats near the top of the lineup and steals 50 bases. I know the O’s want pieces that help now, more than prospects, and teams are more averse to dealing top prospects now in general. But there is a menu here to pick from.

Tigers

Notes Of Note: CF Max Clark, SP Troy Melton, SP Jackson Jobe

Skinny: Detroit can still compete in the AL Central next year even without Tarik Skubal. And they know it. But the lineup hasn’t been consistent enough or potent enough and they have a glaring hole in the infield. The Tigers excel at developing pitchers and even without Skubal have youngsters who they could trade and still compete. Jobe was arguably the top pitching prospect in the game before his surgery and Melton is already accomplished at the MLB level at a young age.

Clark is a massive prospect, with supreme athleticism and it would take a haul to land him. I’m not sure he is going to be a superstar centerfielder, and he is control-able forever and that’s a big price. But Henderson and a few legit prospects for him, and putting him in CF on Opening Day after he reached MLB last year is worth at least dreaming on.

Twins

Name Of Note: CF Byron Buxton

Skinny: Not going to belabor this point – I’d trade Henderson and a prospect for two years of Buxton right now. And be dancing and celebrating. Don’t need to get cute and fancy about this package. Fixing CF with a proven stud would be a huge win for an organization that is utterly clueless about building an outfield.

Giants

Names Of Note: SP Logan Webb, RP Matt Wilkerson, OF Bo Davidson, SP Jackson Flora

Skinny: Don’t like their MLB roster or prospects (AA and above) as much as the other options, but Webb would front this rotation immediately and he is not a guy who needs crazy velo to try to succeed as he gets older. Has two years remaining on his deal at $47M total – that’s right up Elias’s alley. I am getting more in return than just Webb, because Gunnar plays everyday.

Wilkerson is a very interested lefty relief arm that is getting guys out in MLB at age 23. Davidson has a shot to stick in CF in the majors and plays everywhere in the OF and reached MLB last year and has a career .382 OBP in the minors. Flora is an elite pitching prospect who is in a similar spot in his career as many of the arms the O’s got at the deadline, but with volatility and injury-risk of starters, you can never have too many.

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