This is the one I didn’t want to write today. The Orioles are reportedly having trade talks about Adley Rutschman with the Red Sox. Earlier in the day, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman wrote on this rumor that the sides were “moving closer to a deal,” though that could mean anything. I was determined to ignore it until someone local said something, which unfortunately we now have from The Baltimore Banner’s Andy Kostka:
Not unlike within a particular baseball game, momentum is something you have until you don’t have it any more. This doesn’t mean a trade is going to happen. It is, however, closer than I would like the Orioles to even get to trading Rutschman, and closer than I honestly believed that they would get. A big trade being pulled off for a guy who is currently on the injured list, even if his return is approaching, is just too weird. But apparently not too weird for Mike Elias.
The whole point of the rebuilding era was to be able to form a core around the #1 overall pick that Elias took in that first draft. That was Rutschman. The Orioles absolutely stunk in 2019, 2020, and 2021, all while waiting for Rutschman to eventually arrive, along with other players. Now he might be traded away without the Orioles ever having even won a single playoff game in his tenure, not only traded but traded when he still has 2027 team control remaining as well.
A Rutschman trade would mean that Elias has failed as the Orioles general manager. His plan did not work. He should be clearing out his office the day the season ends. He shouldn’t get a chance to come up with a new plan. The fact that he feels safe in trading Rutschman – and that owner David Rubenstein hasn’t stepped in to prevent talks from even getting this deep – suggests that he probably won’t be fired, that Rubenstein probably meant his “we couldn’t be more pleased” about the job Elias has done. He is making money and building asset value, things that happen whether or not the Orioles win.
