Two young stars could be traded this winter.

Gunnar Henderson and Elly De La Cruz Are This Offseason’s Most Interesting Trade Chips.

Both players are under 25.

Both play shortstop.

Both have shown MVP-level ability.

And both are available — at a price — this winter.

The free agent market at shortstop is unusually thin.

Mauricio Dubón and J.P. Crawford are the best the position has to offer.

Useful players, but not building blocks.

Any team with a hole at shortstop would be wiser to look at the trade market.

That’s where Henderson and De La Cruz come in.

Neither has a long-term contract.

Both are young enough to be part of a long-term plan.

And both come with real questions.

Let’s start with Gunnar Henderson.

He was a wunderkind in 2024.

That season, as a 23-year-old, he put up 7.9 WAR and a 154 wRC+.

He hit .281 with 37 home runs and 21 stolen bases.

He finished fourth in MVP voting.

That season serves as a reminder of what he is capable of.

But since then, the production has dropped.

In the two seasons since his peak, his home run totals have sagged from 37 to 17 and 24.

His collective slugging percentage has fallen over 100 points, from .529 in 2024 to .420 across 2025 and 2026.

The advanced numbers tell the same story.

By wRC+, wOBA, xwOBA, and xSLG, Henderson has taken a noticeable step back.

So has his average exit velocity, hard-hit rate, and barrel rate.

Henderson revealed after this season that he has been playing through injuries.

A shoulder impingement from diving for a ball in 2025 negatively influenced his bat plane.

He spent half of 2026 playing with a barking wrist.

Davy Andrews covered Henderson’s ailments in depth at the beginning of October.

A fully healed Henderson could certainly bounce back in 2027.

But as he tried to grit his way through the last two campaigns, his performance has not been commensurate with that of a superstar player.

Now let’s look at Elly De La Cruz.

2026 was the best and most consistent season of his young career.

He spent nearly a month on the injured list with a hamstring injury in May.

Still, at 24, he set career highs in home runs (30), walks, batting average (.283), on-base percentage (.365), slugging percentage (.515), and OPS (.880).

He also had a career low in strikeouts and errors.

In September, he played at another level offensively.

He slashed .348/.437/.719 with nine home runs, six doubles, six stolen bases, and 19 RBI.

He won the National League Player of the Month.

He played at an MVP level down the stretch.

De La Cruz was named a finalist for the Silver Slugger Award.

His teammate, rookie Sal Stewart, was also a finalist.

Stewart had one of the best rookie seasons in MLB history.

He finished with a .263 batting average, .787 OPS, 32 home runs, and 112 RBI.

He became the first Reds player to win Rookie of the Month twice in a season.

He was named to the All-Star team.

He became just the second rookie in MLB history to have a 30-home-run, 15-stolen-base season, joining Jose Canseco.

Stewart is just the fourth rookie in MLB history to hit 30 or more home runs and record 110 or more RBI at age 22 or younger.

He became just the eighth rookie ever to play in all 162 games in a season.

The Reds drafted Stewart in the 2022 MLB draft after Nick Castellanos declined his qualifying offer in the 2021 offseason and signed with the Phillies.

The Reds used their compensation pick in the first round to select him.

The last Red to win a Silver Slugger was Castellanos in 2021.

Brandon Drury won it in 2022 but was traded to the Padres before the end of that season.

So the Reds have not had a Silver Slugger winner finish a full season with the team since 2021.

De La Cruz and Stewart could change that.

Both are finalists for the award.

A rookie has won a Silver Slugger in each of the last four seasons.

Stewart has a chance to make it five consecutive seasons.

But despite the individual success, the Reds finished 75-87 in 2026.

They finished last in the National League Central.

The Orioles also had a disappointing season.

2025 was Baltimore’s second straight below .500.

Both teams are facing pressure to make changes.

And both teams have a shortstop who could bring back a significant return.

The Athletic’s Jim Bowden recently identified De La Cruz as a potential target for the Boston Red Sox.

“The Red Sox will also continue to call the Nationals regarding a possible CJ Abrams trade and the Reds if Cincinnati decides to move Elly De La Cruz,” Bowden wrote.

“Either way, expect them to be aggressive with the aim of adding at least a bat or two.”

The Red Sox scored 689 runs in 2026, ranking 23rd in the majors.

De La Cruz would address that weakness.

His remaining control through 2029 would give Boston three seasons to build around him before free agency.

The clearest defensive plan would put De La Cruz at shortstop and explore moving Trevor Story to second base.

Story’s contract runs through 2027 with a club option for 2028.

Acquiring De La Cruz would address Boston’s longer-term shortstop outlook while immediately strengthening the lineup.

But the Reds have not indicated they intend to trade their star.

Any package for De La Cruz would need to be substantial.

One editorial proposal from ClutchPoints suggested a deal sending Franklin Arias, Payton Tolle, and Justin Gonzales to Cincinnati.

Arias is a potential shortstop successor.

Tolle is an established young starter.

Gonzales is another promising bat.