Adley Rutschman Had To Go At This Deadline, And Boston Paid A Hefty Price For Him

Adley Rutschman was never going to finish his career in Baltimore with a top baseball executive who didn’t execute a long-term deal for any everyday MLB baseball player until eight years on the job, signing first-baseman Pete Alonso as a free agent finally this past winter.

And when the Orioles extended prospect catcher Samuel Basallo, now effectively blocking Rutschman at both positions he could play, it was always far more likely than not he would be gone by the trade deadline. Even if the Orioles were having a solid season, these are private equity billionaires who run the club like an investment, not a public trust out to win a championship. T

hose who said otherwise, simply don’t know or understands the realities of the men atop this franchise. With labor strife coming and Rutschman not in their long-time financial plans – he was going to get dealt with two potential playoff runs left on his current contract, or risk losing significant value. And even in what was another injury-plagued lost season for a very solid player who was wildly overhyped (and was selected instead of generational Bobby Witt Jr.), Orioles failed baseball exec Mike Elias landed a significant cluster of prospects for him.

It was a package Elias would never turn down and seems bolstered by the fact AL East rivals New York and Tampa were pushing Boston for Rutschman’s services, further driving market factors in Baltimore’s favor. And, as we told you, Elias was going to push heavily for pitching at this deadline and he landed Boston’s top two minor league starting prospects in the deal.

Boston sent starting pitchers Anthony Eyanson (their No. 2 prospect) and Kyson Witherspoon (No. 3) to Baltimore, along with outfield prospect Enddy Azocar (5th) and teenage outfielder Harold Rivas (18th) along with MLB catcher Carlos Navarez. The Orioles’ pitching model has failed, Elias refuses to spend for them in free agency or invest heavily with draft capital, making a deal like this, built around arms, the most logical endgame.

Bye, Bye Adley

While Rutschman was supposed to lift the franchise, he’s been mopey and unproductive for over two years, he is incredibly injury prone and this young group of fellow top five picks did not fit well as an on-field product or create a winning baseball culture. They brought out the worst in each other.

This group, Rutschman included despite how his intangibles were supposed to be off the charts, lacked natural leadership qualities and played unsound baseball. The Orioles were 24-27 when Rutschman caught them this season and 25-21 with Basallo at catcher; their Opening Day starter threw exclusively to Basallo and had an ERA of around 2.00 with him and over 6.00 throwing to Rutschman.

Rutschman had just a .670 OPS since June 21, 2024, with just 23 homers and 96 RBIs in 235 games. In 52 games as a DH in that span he had one homer and 17 RBIs. He also caught less than half the team’s games in that time and, succumbing to all types of injuries this season, is currently 27th in MLB in innings caught this season.

He knew he had no future here, as did the entire industry as we chronicled weekly with guests on “The Daily Flock Show." I firmly believe he’s wanted out since they extended Basallo – who is the most prodigious under-22 slugging catcher in MLB history – and the younger players remaining in this clubhouse hopefully get a wake-up call, starting with Gunnar Henderson who will likely be dealt by this time next year, and become more mature and steelers from seeing the reality of their failed rebuild result in this blockbuster.

They need to grow up, and more of them need to be weeded out.

It’s just sickening that Elias is still here to be the one navigating that process as he is one of the biggest frauds and con-men in modern pro sports. Selecting Rutschman over Witt – signed long-term in small-market Kansas City and one of the 10 best talents in baseball; Rutschman isn’t even a top 10 catcher – was a portal into his cowardly approach to roster building and team construction and he can’t be fired quickly enough.

But, with ownership prizing money over wins, there's no reason to anticipate that happening.

Can They Develop The Kids?

Now the Orioles’ horrible player development department must try to prevent the prospects they just landed from the extreme regression that’s marred all of their homegrown ones. This staff has been especially poor at coming close to maximizing pitching talent, and this will be a major test for them.

Eyanson is the headliner and he is already excelling at AA at age 21 after being selected in the third round last year. He was pretty polished coming out of LSU and, seen then as a possible mid-rotation starter, his slider has become even more useful and he’s someone who could join this rotation sometime next season.

Witherspoon was the 15th overall pick a year ago, with a five-pitch arsenal that projects to potential real impact at the MLB level. He is still at High-A and will have to learn to harness and command his breaking stuff. He’s absolutely taking his lumps in High-A, however, with an ERA approaching 5.00. This Orioles regime has broken others like him. Fingers crossed and hoping for the best.

Azocar is just 19 and also in High-A. Boston signed him for just $40,000, and he is stuck behind a lot of young players throughout the Red Sox plentiful farm system, so they can more than afford to include him as the primary position player in this package. He profiles more as a corner outfielder and will have to chase less to make the kind of loud contact his growing frame would suggest.

In the end, Rutschman being dealt during a two-month stretch in which he didn’t really hit (sub .700 OPS since May 1) and while he was nursing a short-term injury on the IL felt about right. Elias over-coddled him, there as no accountability or criticism for his prolonged slumps and they let him skirt the media when this rebuild started to collapse in the summer of 2024.

Elias and his minions and overmatched skippers had no idea how to help reverse his slide on the field. And this front office is even less adept at people skills and connecting in that regard then it is buttressing in-game productivity. So this was doomed.

Rutschman leaves Baltimore with just 47 career home runs on days when he caught, and an overall resume far less accomplished than the last catcher the Orioles took remotely that high in the draft, Matt Wieters.

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