The Baltimore Orioles were said to be contemplating shaking up the core of their roster, and trading Adley Rutschman to the division-rival Boston Red Sox confirmed that to be true.
A rebuild that centered around 2019 draft picks Rutschman (first overall) and Gunnar Henderson (42nd overall) went from an extremely promising start, to stalling in a big way, to now being broken up.
While the latter remains in Baltimore, ESPN insider Buster Olney believes it’s only a matter of time before Henderson, like Rutschman, is dealt away as part of the turnover.
“By the way, this is just the beginning of this, of turning over these players, right? Adley gets traded, and then Gunnar Henderson is represented by Scott Boras. He’s not going to sign there long-term in all likelihood. At some point, he’s going to go out. They’re going to keep turning over this team because they basically botched it. They didn’t develop a pipeline of pitching, and now this position player group that they took at the top of the draft, they’re starting to cycle past them,”
The 25-year-old Henderson is playing on the one-year, $8.5 million contract extension he signed in January to avoid arbitration with the Orioles. He has two more years of control beyond 2026 and could become a free agent in 2029. He’s hitting .218 with 18 home runs and 47 RBI through 114 games played this season.
Henderson was hit particularly hard by the news of Rutschman being shipped to Boston.
“Not easy for me. Somebody who’s been with me for seven years … I’m not going to be able to talk about it today. Sorry, guys,”
After a down 2025 season, Henderson has had an even worse year at the plate in 2026, which has been a major factor in why Baltimore could miss the playoffs for a second straight season. Along with his offensive numbers falling off, there have also been concerns about Henderson’s play at shortstop, with questions about potentially moving him to second base.
All of that adds up to Olney’s comments being quite plausible as both Henderson and the Orioles might benefit from a parting of ways at this point. As a result, the star infielder could wind up becoming one of the more interesting names to watch on the trade market this offseason.
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