Henderson's contract ends next season. I would be shocked if Kentucky isn't worse next season. However, I don't see Barnhart firing Henderson after this season.
I honestly don't know how we could be better. We lose our three best pitchers and no one is capable of replacing them except maybe Logue. Then you have Strecker, who is a senior, and will be gone, as well as Dwyer. So, we only return Lewis and Hjelle as reliable weekend pitchers and both of them have been bullpen guys. I don't think Hjelle is going to go from closer to starter. Lewis could be a starter, but it isn't great that he hasn't started at all, and I think he has to develop some secondary pitches. Logue has done well in like 2 starts and he'd be forced to the weekend. So, then you have to find at least one pitcher to be a weekend starter that has never pitched on the weekend. Daniel Tillo, Zach Pop, and Josh Smith are all guys that have that ability, but none of those guys have done well and Tillo and Smith have not started a game this season. We could be bad in epic proportions unless we get very lucky with our pitchers and find 2-3 that can do well on the weekend. Henderson has done little to nothing to develop our pitchers this year, so it makes you wonder who he will turn to.
Shelby improving over the next several weekends will determine whether he leaves this year or not. You also lose Hairston. So, we could do just as well, or better, offensively, but White is really the only one I trust at the plate for the most part.
I imagine that you're right that we won't fire Henderson this year, but I think it is blatantly obvious that he needs to be let go.