Reds 2B Jonathan India's Top 10 Landing Spots Amid MLB Trade Rumors

Despite signing free-agent infielder Jeimer Candelario to a roster that already had a surplus of infielders, the Cincinnati Reds have been fairly adamant in recent days that they are not trying to trade second baseman Jonathan India.

"We're not looking to move him," Reds president of baseball operations Nick Krall said during the winter meetings. "He has a chance to be a very big contributor on our club next year. I told him that. We're not looking to trade anybody. Do people get asked about? Sure. Does that happen periodically? Sure. But at the same time, we are not looking to just move him. That's been out there multiple times."

Jon Heyman of the New York Post sounded a similar note: "Even after signing Jeimer Candelario for $45 million over three years, the Reds don't seem to want to trade Jonathan India, who is liked for his leadership. They are, however, stacked with infielders (though he could switch to left field)."

But the most recent trade landing-spots article that I wrote? It was about Juan Soto in early November, publishing the day after his agent, Scott Boras, said he was going to be on the Padres roster in 2024.

That didn't scare me from identifying the New York Yankees as Soto's new home, nor will recent reports about India make me ignore the fact that Cincinnati has way more infielders than it needs, as well as a major need for pitching.

So let's rank the candidates to acquire the 2021 NL Rookie of the Year.

Jonathan India turns 27 on Friday. He has three seasons of arbitration eligibility remaining before he is scheduled to reach free agency during the 2026-27 offseason.

Spotrac puts his estimated 2024 salary at $3.2 million.

And to any team even remotely in need of a second baseman, he is easily worth that amount.

He's not a great defensive asset, so maybe there is a little something to the notion that Cincinnati will hang onto India and try him out as a corner outfielder.

However, in 119 games played last season, he hit 17 home runs, stole 14 bases and had a .746 OPS that doesn't exactly grow on trees among second basemen. It's a mark on par with what Bryson Stott gave the Phillies (.747) and what Ha-Seong Kim gave the Padres (.749), and those guys were arguably the most valuable players on their respective teams.

The reason we expect him to be traded is that Cincinnati now has India, Matt McLain, Elly De La Cruz, Jeimer Candelario, Christian Encarnacion-Strand, Noelvi Marte, Spencer Steer and only so many places to play them all.

It just makes sense for at least one of those guys to be put on the trade block.

Barring a Godfather offer, it's not going to be McLain, De La Cruz, Marte or Encarnacion-Strand, each of whom has at least five years of team control remaining and arguably a higher ceiling than India's.

Maybe the Reds aren't looking to trade him just for the sake of trading him, as by all accounts he's a good clubhouse guy in addition to what he brings on the field. But if they can swap India for an inexpensive, deployable starting pitcher, they'd be foolish to not do it, given the state of their rotation.

10. Los Angeles Angels

Trading for a second baseman hardly seems like priority No. 1 for the Angels in the aftermath of losing Shohei Ohtani, but they also spent the last three weeks of last season basically holding an open audition for the 2024 2B job with five different players getting starts there. India could give them the stability at the position they hoped they were getting when they signed Brandon Drury last offseason.

9. Minnesota Twins

In their current state with Jorge Polanco still on the roster, trading for India doesn't make much sense for the Twins. But if they're able to trade Polanco—owed $10.5 million in 2024 with a $12 million club option for 2025—going more budget-friendly in acquiring India could be right up their alley. They could transition Edouard Julien fully to first-base duties and roll with an India-Carlos Correa middle infield for the next few years.

8. Chicago White Sox

Among the many things that went awry for Chicago in 2023, second base was a season-long mess, with Elvis Andrus, Lenyn Sosa, Zach Remillard and Romy González each getting at least 20 starts and never remotely locking down the gig. India's three years of team control should be somewhat enticing to a team in rebuild mode. But the White Sox would probably prefer prospects with six-plus years of control if they're giving up anything of value. Maybe India could be one of the pieces that gets Chicago to put Dylan Cease on the table, though.

7. Kansas City Royals

The Royals don't exactly have a surplus of MLB-caliber starting pitching to offer the Reds, but they would be interested in India, who would immediately become a veteran leader on what is a pretty young roster (aside from Sal Perez). Maybe they would be willing to offer Alec Marsh or Angel Zerpa to get him.

6. Milwaukee Brewers

I can't justify putting Milwaukee any higher than this because of the presumed reluctance to help out a division rival, but the Brewers could use one more infield bat, preferably of the multi-year variety with Willy Adames slated for free agency next winter. If the NL Central teams are willing to negotiate, maybe the Reds could aim high and ask for left-handed pitching prospect Robert Gasser, who went to Milwaukee in the Josh Hader trade two summers ago.

Boston's Current 2B Situation: Enmanuel Valdéz until Marcelo Mayer is ready...maybe Ceddanne Rafaela?

Offseason goal No. 1 for the Red Sox is to improve the starting pitching.

But they are also clearly in the market for an upgrade at second base.

The hope heading into last season was that highly touted prospect Marcelo Mayer might be ready by 2024. However, the 21-year-old shortstop struggled against Double-A pitching in 2023 (.609 OPS), and his MLB debut isn't imminently on the horizon.

They could also go with Ceddanne Rafaela, who logged a few innings at second base as a September callup last season. But if the young outfielder is ready for regular MLB work, it's more likely he would replace Rob Refsnyder than make a new home in the infield.

Assuming Mayer is eventually on his way, though, Boston would probably prefer to just trade for a one-year stopgap at second base—someone like Brandon Drury or Jorge Polanco. But trading for India and then trading him again if he eventually becomes expendable wouldn't be a bad plan.

Once they spend big on a pitching acquisition or two, they should be able to part with a few arms they no longer need. Garrett Whitlock went from great in 2021 to mediocre in 2022 and just plain not good in 2023, but he could still have some trade value, packaged with another prospect.

Trade Package: Boston sends RHP Garrett Whitlock and LHP Brandon Walter (Red Sox's No. 24 prospect, per MLB.com) for 2B Jonathan India

Detroit's Current 2B Situation: Andy Ibañez with Zach McKinstry getting occasional starts

Andy Ibañez was Detroit's most valuable position player in 2023, worth 2.0 wins above replacement, per Baseball Reference. The Tigers certainly aren't trying to send him packing.

But he can play virtually anywhere, including third base, which was a colossal disaster for Detroit last season. Nine different players made multiple starts at the hot corner, with FanGraphs putting the Tigers' collective third-base production at second-worst in the majors.

Trade for India, slide Ibañez over to third, hope Javier Báez gives them something positive at short after back-to-back rough years and the Tigers could be in business in 2024.

They already traded for Mark Canha and will be in pretty good shape in the outfield once Riley Greene returns from Tommy John surgery (on his non-throwing arm). They got a breakout year from Spencer Torkelson at first base and should be able to bank on him in the heart of the order. Might be something brewing there.

Would they be willing to give up their former No. 1 overall pick to get India?

Casey Mize missed all of 2023 and almost all of 2022 after undergoing Tommy John surgery, but he should be good to go in 2024. With three years left before free agency but plenty of unknowns about his health and durability moving forward, it could be a fair swap.

If Mize is a deal-breaker, though, maybe Detroit would be willing to offer up one of its top pitching prospects in Ty Madden. He averaged 11.1 K/9 in his 118 innings pitched at Double-A Erie last year. The late first-round pick in 2021 could be ready for the bigs in 2024 and could be a key arm for the Reds' future.

Trade Package: Detroit sends RHP Ty Madden (Tigers' No. 6 prospect, per MLB.com) to Cincinnati for 2B Jonathan India

Miami's Current 2B Situation: Luis Arráez with occasional starts for Xavier Edwards and Jon Berti

As with Detroit, Miami's current 2B isn't the problem. Luis Arráez just finished eighth in the NL MVP vote while winning his second consecutive batting title.

But Arráez also has plenty of experience at first base. If the Marlins traded for India, they could put him at second, slide Arráez to first and let Josh Bell serve as the primary DH, which is currently a great big question mark with Jorge Soler no longer on the roster.

Miami doesn't have anywhere near the surplus of young pitching it had when it traded for Arráez last season. But even with Sandy Alcantara (Tommy John) slated to miss all of 2024, perhaps they would be willing to part with Edward Cabrera?

That would leave Jesús Luzardo, Braxton Garrett and Eury Pérez as their big three, with recent talk of closer A.J. Puk possibly getting stretched out this winter for a rotation spot. Throw in both Max Meyer and Trevor Rogers coming back from injury and maybe they could move Cabrera.

At any rate, Jon Heyman reported during the winter meetings that the Marlins were "listening to trade talk on their fine stash of young starting pitchers."

A one-for-one swap of India for Cabrera might be a bit too rich for Miami's blood, as Cabrera does still have five years of team control. Cincinnati would likely need to add in a prospect to get the deal done.

Trade Package: Miami sends RHP Edward Cabrera to Cincinnati for 2B Jonathan India and OF Blake Dunn (Reds' No. 22 prospect, per MLB.com)

Toronto's Current 2B Situation: Bouncing between Cavan Biggio, Santiago Espinal and Davis Schneider until Orelvis Martinez is ready for the big leagues.

After all of the Juan Soto and Shohei Ohtani hubbub, what Toronto has actually accomplished thus far this offseason is diddly squat.

The Blue Jays lost all of Matt Chapman, Whit Merrifield, Kevin Kiermaier and Brandon Belt to free agency and have yet to do anything to replace four of the 10 position players who appeared in both of their postseason games two months ago.

Trading for India wouldn't solve all of their problems, but it would at least keep them from once again trying to make Cavan Biggio work as an everyday player.

And Toronto does have almost too many pitching options.

Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt and José Berríos are each signed for at least two more years. They've got one more year of Yusei Kikuchi. Alek Manoah is presumably still part of their long-term plans. Ricky Tiedemann should be ready for a promotion to the big leagues at some point in 2024, if not Opening Day. Yosver Zulueta is another intriguing almost-MLB-ready prospect, though they've been using him in a relief capacity for the past year.

For what it's worth, Baseball Trade Values suggests a one-for-one swap of India and Manoah would be a perfectly fair deal. But if the Blue Jays are going to trade a pitcher with MLB experience, it's much more likely to be Kikuchi.

Fresh off by far the best season of his MLB career with a $10 million salary in the final year of his contract, his trade value has never been higher. It's really just a question of whether Cincinnati wants to trade for a one-year solution. Toronto would likely need to throw in a prospect (or retain a sizable chunk of Kikuchi's salary) to sweeten the deal.

Trade Package: Toronto sends LHP Yusei Kikuchi and RHP Hayden Juenger (Blue Jays' No. 21 prospect, per MLB.com) to Cincinnati for 2B Jonathan India

Seattle's Current 2B Situation: Some combination of Josh Rojas, José Caballero and Dylan Moore

Without question, if anyone is looking to trade for a long-term solution at second base, it's the Seattle Mariners.

Noelvi Marté and Edwin Arroyo used to be the long-term infield plans for the M's, but they shipped those promising prospects to Cincinnati two summers ago in the Luis Castillo trade.

Perhaps those teams can return to the negotiating table, though, and somewhat return the favors, because Seattle has pitching to spare in addition to a 2B situation that is a mess.

Their current top prospect, Cole Young, is a middle infielder, but it's likely going to be at least 2-3 years before the 2022 first-round pick can come to their rescue. And that's why trading for three years' worth of India's services makes a ton of sense.

They won't be desperate enough to give up any of their main six starters for India, though. Castillo, Robbie Ray, Logan Gilbert, George Kirby, Bryce Miller and Bryan Woo stay put in Seattle unless the M's are just blown away by a trade proposal.

Emerson Hancock, however, could be gettable. The No. 6 overall pick in the 2020 draft made a few appearances this past season before getting shut down with a shoulder strain. He isn't considered a top-tier prospect, but he absolutely could be a back-of-the-rotation starter for the Reds in 2024.

Because Baseball Trade Values unsurprisingly suggests Hancock's trade value is well below that of India's, we also have Seattle adding 32-year-old reliever Justin Topa to the trade.

Last year was the first that Topa got any legitimate run in the majors, and he fared quite well as one of the Mariners' set-up men. And while we've mostly been focused on trying to drum up trade packages to get Cincinnati a starting pitcher, it could use some help in the bullpen, too.

Trade Package: Seattle sends RHP Emerson Hancock and RHP Justin Topa to Cincinnati for 2B Jonathan India