Orioles trade Adley Rutschman to Red Sox in blockbuster deal: source

Jacob Calvin Meyer, The Baltimore Sun on Aug 3, 2026

Published in Baseball

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BALTIMORE — Moments before his MLB debut, catcher Adley Rutschman took 10 seconds for himself.

Rutschman, seen as the savior of Baltimore baseball since he was selected No. 1 overall in the 2019 draft, had arrived. He stood behind the plate and took a visual lap of Camden Yards, his new home, before putting on his mask, squatting down and embarking on his journey as a big league baseball player.

A little more than four years later, Rutschman won’t get to do that any longer as an Oriole at Camden Yards.

The Orioles on Monday made the stunning decision to trade Rutschman, their franchise cornerstone catcher, to the Boston Red Sox, according to a source with direct knowledge of the deal. In return for the catcher who is under team control through 2027, the Orioles received right-handed pitchers Anthony Eyanson and Kyson Witherspoon, outfielder Enddy Azocar, catcher Carlos Narváez and a player to be named. Boston also received veteran catcher Jake Rogers, who the Orioles acquired in a deal with the Detroit Tigers last week.

The move could signal the end of the post-rebuild era in Baltimore, which Rutschman ushered in with his debut May 21, 2022. From almost the moment he arrived, the Orioles became a contender, surprising that season to be in the wild-card race before winning the American League East title in 2023 and 91 games in 2024.

But that was the apex for Rutschman and the Orioles, who were swept out of both playoff series before struggling in each of the past two seasons. This year was expected to be different after last season’s 75-win campaign, but the additions of Pete Alonso, Taylor Ward, Ryan Helsley and Shane Baz didn’t make a difference. Ward was traded to the Seattle Mariners earlier Monday for three pitchers.

The Orioles are 54-58 and 2 1/2 games out of the third and final AL wild-card spot, putting president of baseball operations Mike Elias in a spot where trading away a player of Rutschman’s caliber at the deadline was realistic. FanGraphs gives the Orioles an 18.7% chance of making the playoffs.

Elias said in late June that he planned on “going for it” at the trade deadline, but his team didn’t do enough over the next five weeks to make aggressively buying a credible strategy. Then, on Friday, Elias expressed his intention to be both a buyer and a seller at the deadline, including being “open-minded” about trading Rutschman.

Rutschman’s injuries over the past three seasons have hindered one of the best starts to a career by a catcher in MLB history. After back-to-back stellar campaigns to open his career, Rutschman spent the second half of 2024 slumping, partially because of an unspecified nagging injury. He then put up career-worst numbers in 2025 with a .220 average and .673 OPS while missing two months with a pair of oblique strains. He bounced back this season to earn his third All-Star Game appearance, but he’s landed on the injured list three times with a sprained ankle, concussion and wrist tendonitis. Rutschman, who’s been on the IL since July 19, is hitting .251 with a .764 OPS while being one of the best defensive catchers in baseball.

Speculation about the Orioles one day parting ways with Rutschman began last August when Baltimore signed young catcher Samuel Basallo to an eight-year, $67 million contract extension less than a week after his MLB debut. Basallo, 21, is hitting .241 with a .756 OPS and 16 homers as a rookie this season, but he’s also on the IL as he recovers from a right shoulder injury.

How the Rutschman trade impacts the Orioles in the future remains to be seen. But it’s now Basallo’s turn — alongside shortstop Gunnar Henderson, Alonso and ace Kyle Bradish — to step into Rutschman’s shoes.

Rutschman’s status as a franchise cornerstone began the moment he became an Oriole in 2019. His debut three years later was supposed to open a decade-long competitive window for the Orioles. A few months after Rutschman’s first game at Camden Yards, Elias sold at the 2022 deadline, a controversial decision with the Orioles in the wild-card hunt. But the executive spoke confidently about the organization’s future.

“It’s liftoff from here,” Elias said Aug. 3, 2022.

Exactly four years later, Elias has traded Rutschman away as the Orioles have crashed back down to Earth.

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