Professional baseball is a cruel mistress. One minute you’re riding on a double-decker bus on Grand Avenue through the heart of downtown Los Angeles, the next minute you’re at home waiting for a call from your agent to find out if you’ll have to uproot the family and start somewhere fresh in a new city.
It’s part of the reason that professional athletes are paid so handsomely, but it’s also an unenviable aspect of an otherwise dream career.
For the Los Angeles Dodgers, several players head into the winter break on shaky ground, unsure of whether they’ll be returning to Chavez Ravine in 2027.
Unless you’ve won a postseason or regular season MVP Award in the last decade, there’s no guarantee that your spot on the 40-man roster is secure.
With the Dodgers beginning to show their age, key contributors hitting the free agent market, and an embarrassment of riches in the farm system, several beloved Dodger players could be on the move in the coming weeks.
But which ones, if any?
These Dodgers players could be traded
Teoscar Hernández
A beloved clubhouse figure and one of the team’s most reliable postseason bats is the most likely Dodger to be moved in the offseason for several notable reasons.
First, his age. Hernández turned 34 last month, and he’s not a particularly young 34 by any means.
He was never an elite athlete, even in his prime years in Toronto. And age has only sapped more of his speed and strength.
His defense has left much to be desired the past two seasons, and Baseball Savant grades him pretty harshly as a defender. He was in the 9th percentile in range this past season, according to Baseball Savant, and while his arm strength remains above average, the value of his throws was slightly below average.
Range is the biggest issue, as it accounts for how well a player gets to batted balls and converts them into outs. The eye test would confirm to you that Hernández has struggled mightily to get to balls in the outfield over the past two seasons.
Hernández has always proved his worth with his bat. He, again, was among the most valuable hitters on the Dodgers during the 2026 postseason when the team couldn’t buy a run and Kyle Tucker looked like the most important player on the roster.
On most MLB rosters, the solution would be pretty obvious: slide Teoscar Hernández into the DH spot and let someone else patrol the outfield.
The Dodgers might be the only team in Major League Baseball where that’s not an option because of a man named Ohtani.
With the Dodgers looking slow and dreadfully outmatched against the Milwaukee Brewers in the NLCS, there’s been a groundswell of support for a youth movement in the starting lineup, and with Josue De Paula waiting in the wings, the obvious candidate to be moved is, sadly, Mr. Seeds.
A reunion with Toronto makes sense for both sides. The Boston Red Sox could use a right-handed power bat. Randy Arozarena seems likely to depart the Seattle Mariners—another former Hernández team—and the team would potentially be in the market for a veteran bat who can play in the corner outfield or platoon the DH spot.
While the Dodgers are listening to offers, according to Bob Nightengale, there’s no immediate rush to trade Hernández before the collective bargaining agreement expires, according to Katie Woo of the Athletic.
The team toyed with the idea of trading Hernández last offseason, but ultimately didn’t make a deal. Due $17 million next season with a club option for the year after, his contract is far more palatable for another team to absorb than it was last winter.
Read More: Miami Marlins could play spoiler in Dodgers offseason
Tyler Glasnow
In addition to Hernández, the Dodgers are apparently fielding calls for Tyler Glasnow as well, according to Nightengale.
The potential roadblock for a Glasnow trade is largely around his gigantic contract.
Glasnow, like Hernández, is under contract for next season with a club option for the year after that. He’s due over $30 million in 2027, and if his club option is declined in 2028, it reverts to a roughly $20 million player option.
The Dodgers signed the oft-injured Glasnow to a massive figure after acquiring him from the Tampa Bay Rays in 2023.
He made an All-Star appearance for the Dodgers that season, and has been a very good starting pitcher throughout three seasons in L.A., recording a 3.42 ERA, 3.12 FIP and 372 strikeouts with an 18-11 record.
When healthy, the 33-year-old righty has been as advertised—arguably the most complete pitcher on the roster. But he’s missed a significant number of games during his L.A. tenure, including three months in 2026 and the entire 2024 postseason.
He was brought in to be the Dodgers’ ace and provide some insurance way back before the team truly knew what they would be getting with Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Since then, the Dodgers have created the most talented starting pitching rotation in baseball by adding Blake Snell, a returning Shohei Ohtani and trading for Tarik Skubal.
Glasnow, with his injury history and a glut of younger pitching prospects in the minors and the bullpen, is the most logical odd-man out.
But perhaps his future is most dependent on what happens with the team’s true co-ace in Tarik Skubal. Skubal is a free agent and is likely to sign the largest contract for a pitcher in Major League Baseball history.
If he returns to L.A. with a record-breaking deal, the team’s hand might be forced, and Glasnow could be on the move. If Skubal departs, the team might find themselves in desperate need of his services.
Read More: Dodgers star says ‘good shot’ Tarik Skubal returns to team
Where could he go? There’s no shortage of teams in need of a high-quality starting pitcher.
The Chicago Cubs will likely have to replace their entire starting pitching rotation from 2026. The New York Mets might be in the market if they miss out on Skubal—same goes for the Blue Jays and Brewers. Glasnow clearly has an affinity for the Rays franchise. Would a reunion there make sense for the American League champions after they were completely outplayed by the Brewers in the World Series?
Whichever team employs Glasnow in 2027 will pay him over $30 million and can probably pencil in a stint on the injured list at some point. But if he’s healthy in October, that might be worth the risk on a short-term experiment.
Josue De Paula
The least likely of these three Dodgers players to be traded is MLB’s No. 4 overall prospect Josue De Paula.
De Paula broke through to the Dodgers varsity squad in September, skipping Triple A altogether, and making an immediate impact.
The 21-year-old had 10 hits in 42 regular season plate appearances, including three doubles, a triple and a monster home run that traveled 416 feet (also his first Major League hit), and he managed to stick around through the remainder of the season and crack the postseason roster over several veteran bats.
He is, by all accounts, the future of this Dodgers team.
That is, of course, if he isn’t the centerpiece of a blockbuster deal.
My former colleague at Dodgers Nation, Doug McKain, was the first major media personality to float the idea of a De Paula swap for Cincinnati Reds superstar Elly De La Cruz. Reds legend Joey Votto made the same suggestion weeks later.
The Dodgers acquiring De La Cruz is an obvious upgrade to the roster and answers a big question in the middle infield. De La Cruz can hit with power, for average, and get on base at an elite level while defending his butt off with a ranginess that is seldom seen in baseball.
He would provide a massive offensive spark for a team desperately in need of some middle-lineup juice.
De La Cruz is probably the most gettable among MLB superstars, but Reds president of baseball operations Nick Krall says they haven’t fielded any calls for him this offseason.
This, of course, could change, especially if the Dodgers are willing to dangle Josue De Paula in trade talks.
Would they do it? Andrew Friedman has not shown any hesitance to part ways with highly heralded prospects if it means prolonging the championship window and giving Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman another shot at a ring.
But this might be different. The league has talked about De Paula in hushed tones for years. There’s an expectation that he could become one of the generation’s best hitters, a perennial All-Star and, eventually, an MVP candidate.
Would the Dodgers really forfeit a potential decade-plus of production to steal a few more bites at the apple while Betts and Freeman are still viable starters on a World Series contender? Would they maybe hold out even longer for a player of even greater quality than De La Cruz?
Nobody knows for sure, but my gut says no. But Friedman, as well as owner Mark Walter, knows that championship windows aren’t open forever, despite how much you plan for them to be.
It’s a move that could blow up in the face of the Dodgers, or “ruin baseball” even further.
Read More: Tarik Skubal will be a Met if New York goes hard after him, MLB executive says
Other Dodgers who could be moved this offseason
Pitcher Gavin Stone should finally be healthy and ready to return to the Dodgers starting rotation. Will there be room for him?
Aside from De Paula, Alex Call is the obvious beneficiary of a potential Teoscar Hernández trade. But Call was left off the 2026 postseason roster, and will likely have the stiffest competition for a roster spot that he’s faced as a Dodger. He would be easy to trade, if there’s a market for him, or he could potentially be DFA’d outright if the team wants to go another direction.
Moving Call could also provide some, but not much, clarity for two Dodgers youngsters.
Outfield prospects Mike Sirota and James Tibbs III will likely start 2027 in Oklahoma City. Sirota is the team’s third-ranked prospect, and Tibbs looks ready for the Majors, but with De Paula getting called up, a long-term deal for Kyle Tucker, and Andy Pages likely to get a long-term extension, it’s unclear if opportunity will knock for either of them.
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