The entire baseball world shines a white hot spotlight on the trade deadline. But the truth is that deadline deals are rarely as impactful as we want them to be. It’s a case of simple math. The Red Sox only have 44 baseball games left. That’s just not that much time for a baseball player to make an impact, and that’s even more true in the case of Adley Rutschman, who is both a catcher who needs extra rest and is coming off an injury.
Of the 44 remaining games, Rutschman’s probably only going to start
around around 35 of them at most. If he maintains more or less the same level of production over those 35 games as he’s maintained all season, then we’re talking about 3-4 home runs, 6-10 doubles, and 25-30 total hits total from Rutschman. That’s not that much!
Of course, that production would still be much better than the Sox have gotten from their catchers all year, which is why they got him in the first place. Moreover, anyone who lived through the Kyle Schwarber or Steve Pearce eras knows exactly what kind of boost the right trade deadline pickup can provide.
So with Adley Rutschman likely making his Red Sox debut tonight, what are you expecting from the new backstop?
Talk about Rutschman and whatever else you want in this space and, as always, be good to one another.
