The most painful trade the Dodgers can make at the 2025 Winter Meetings

The Dodgers are reportedly looking to trade for a new outfielder rather than sign one, and there's no better time to put their heads together with some other front offices than the Winter Meetings, which kick off on Sunday night in Orlando.

LA has a deep farm system to pull from to make deals, but there are already indications that they could be willing to go even more extreme. Even though they're not actively shopping him, Teoscar Hernández's name reportedly coming up in trade talks is a shocking development.

The majority of their major league core is never going anywhere. That means the entire rotation (except maybe Tyler Glasnow), Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Will Smith, and Tommy Edman (although is situation seems ... complicated).

One would think that Hernández would've been on that list as totally off the table, but if the Dodgers aren't shooting down the idea of dealing him immediately, it could open up unforeseen possibilities for other players too.

The Dodgers trading Hernández would be astonishing, but guys like Dalton Rushing, Hyeseong Kim, Andy Pages, and Alex Call could be on the table and haven't established themselves with the team quite as much.

But one Dodger has all of them beat. If LA were to trade Max Muncy, fans would be appalled.

Dodgers could shock fans by trading Max Muncy at Winter Meetings

There's a utilitarian argument that could be made for trading Muncy. He's only making $10 million this year, an absolute bargain for a (sort of) competent, veteran third baseman who can still hit 20 homers a year. His power has certainly declined since he could plausibly hit 35, but his slugging percentage hasn't dipped below .470 in his last three seasons.

He's also one of the oldest guys on the Dodgers' roster, and age is becoming more of a concern for them as a number of core players get into their early or mid-30s. Finding a taker for Muncy would free up infield space for top prospect Alex Freeland or rumored trade target Brendan Donovan, and they could improve defense at third drastically.

But it's hard for Dodgers fans to fully buy into the utilitarian argument when Muncy is the Dodgers' longest-tenured player and their all-time leader in postseason home runs. He wants to keep playing after the 2026 season, and even if the Dodgers don't bring him back then, it would still sting less than a trade just weeks after picking up his option.