Adley Rutschman's Trade: A Game-Changer for Red Sox and Orioles

Adelaide Rushman going to the Red Sox is a huge deal on a variety of different fronts. Let's take it from the Orioles perspective for a second. This is a 1v1 or 1.1 guy, okay? Round one, pick one. Rushman was the top pick in the 2019 draft. He was the major linchpin. He was the focal point. He was the guy that helped this Orioles franchise win the division, make the playoffs in 2023 and 2024. This was an Orioles team that looked like they were on the come up, that they were going to be a team. Red Sox, Yankees, Orioles, right? Or Blue Jays, Yankees, Orioles. You thought this team had some faces, some players, some pieces that were going to be there for a long time. Rushman's been hurt a lot over the last three years. He's a catcher. Catchers get beat up. Their fingers break. They get bumps and bruises and they're sore. Look, I was a catcher coming up. I don't think I ever caught anyone faster than 85 miles per hour, but it hurts, okay? Playing catcher hurts. And you play for 150 games or so, you're going to have knee problems, wrist problems. You're going to have arm problems. It's just what happens when you play that position. So at his age, which he's sub 30, but his body might be 35 for all we know. So the Orioles giving him up, somewhat surprising. Oriole fans, the reason why I would give the Orioles a loser grade from the trade deadline is because the Oriole fan was told today that we're not going to compete for a while or told yesterday that we're not going to compete for a while. And that I think hurts from a Tiger fan perspective, from a Nationals fan perspective, from an Orioles fan perspective. When your team is trading away pieces that you should keep and you know they should keep in sign long-term and they're not, that's the worry. And this winter, according to reports is what always happens, the Orioles approached Rushman about an extension and he turned it down. Now he's under club control for next year. He'll be a free agent in 28. The problem is what happens to contracts if we don't play baseball in, excuse me, in 27. Orioles looking at that saying, okay, we have them for 26. We're not good. We have them for 27. There may not be baseball or there may be a shortened season for baseball. So that's not good. And he won't sign past 27. So we need to find what can we get for him. The Red Sox gave up two very highly thought of prospects, but they're prospects. I don't care where a prospect ranks really. Marcello Meyer was a highly ranked prospect for the Boston Red Sox, and he was traded to the Giants yesterday for a reliever. Okay. For a reliever. It was supposed to be Meyer and Anthony and Christian Campbell. These three kids who came up last year who looked great together. Well, Campbell's at AAA, and he can't find a position he can't hit. They signed him long term. That was a mistake. Roman. Anthony's got a hand problem. He can't stay healthy, and he can't play, even though he played in the World Baseball Classic. He looked good in the World Baseball Classic, but he has not looked good at all for the Red Sox when he has been healthy enough to play. And Marcello Meyer just was a complete malcontent and was partying too much, and that guy got shipped out of town and got sent to San Francisco, and he's let it leak out to the media that he's happy that he's at him. He's out of Boston. He wants no part of it. I mean, you can have your prospects, okay, bleep them kids is what I've been tweeting back sending back and forth to people who are whining or whining about how much was given up to go and get Adelaide Rushman. He's a three time all star, and the stats are pretty damn obvious. Okay. Look at the stats for the Red Sox catchers versus Rushman and what he has done in a year in which he's only played 67 games, and he's been battling injuries the last three years. He's not fully healthy. If they can get the kid healthy. This is a guy who can be a catcher for the next four to five years for the Red Sox. Okay. And I'm talking defensively. The offensive numbers are great, but he is an above average defensive catcher. And so we often get caught up talking about the offensive numbers, but the defensive numbers for Rushman are huge with a pitching staff that's going to get hopefully Garrett Crochet back next year and other pitchers. If you can sign Sonny Gray, and if you can take care of Ranger Suarez, I mean, they've got a lineup of pitching rotation that you like. They have a bullpen full of really high leverage arms. You need a catcher like point blank, you need a catcher. So I don't mind what the Red Sox did. I don't mind what they gave up to go and get them. I think if you look at the move, you get a player, you give up prospects. This is why you have prospects in markets like Chicago, New York, LA, Boston, Philly too. Who cares about the kids? Who cares? Let somebody else do that, right? Let somebody else get the kid to be good. This is why Bobby Witt most likely is going to be somewhere else very soon. And the Royals are going to trade them because they can bring in. Bobby Witt's a legitimate talent, okay? Bobby Witt's a great player. He's going to go play somewhere else because someone's going to give the Royals a lion's share of other prospects to come in and potentially find the next Bobby Witt. Same thing can be said for other teams that just aren't going to lock up a guy and pay him big money. That's why it hurt when you see guys, you know, when Giannis talked about staying in Milwaukee for his career, it was like, my God, Giannis wants to stay with the Bucs? Like, you don't see that very often where guys like, I'm putting my flag down. I want to live here. I want to be here. And oops, look where Giannis is now. He's in Miami, right?