Anyone hoping the Orioles will trade Adley Rutschman is in for a rude awakening

Between the Baltimore Orioles getting off to a slow start to the season and the emergence of Samuel Basallo as a legitimate all-star candidate, a perfect storm has been created where fans of teams with bad catching situations are convincing themselves that Adley Rutschman is going to be available at this deadline.

It's hard to blame them. Rutschman's trade value is the highest it's been in years, and the Orioles signed Pete Alonso to a five-year contract, so it's not like one of the Orioles catchers could move to first base. These are the kinds of factors that lead to teams trading important players. However, these fans are underestimating one particular factor when it comes to Orioles President of Baseball Operations Mike Elias; he does not care about positional logjams or creating a roster that makes sense.

The Baltimore Orioles are not going to trade Adley Rutschman

When the Orioles signed Alonso, they already had two other right-handed first basemen on their roster, Coby Mayo and Ryan Mountcastle. When the Alonso signing was announced, everyone assumed that both Mayo and Mountcastle would have to be traded because it really doesn't make that much sense to have three right-handed first basemen on your active roster. Instead, the Orioles held on to both Mayo and Mountcastle, and sure enough, when the 2026 season began, both were on the active roster. It made no sense. Mayo was playing out of position at third, and Mountcastle was relegated to playing about once a week when Alonso would DH, but they did it anyway.  

Think about how little that roster construction makes sense. Now take into account that Mayo and Mountcastle aren't anywhere near the level of player of Adley Rutschman. If the Orioles were willing to field a nonsensical roster for the sake of two first basemen that couldn't hit, imagine what they'd be willing to do to make room for an elite defensive catcher who has some of the best on-base skills in the league.

Putting that aside, it's also worth mentioning that Basallo is not ready to take over the responsibility of being an everyday catcher. Rutschman is in an entirely different league as a framer and as a blocker, not to mention being much more advanced as a pitch caller.

The Orioles should be doing the opposite of trading Rutschman, reaching out ot his agent to see what kind of extension he'd be open to. They are not going to trade Rutschman; they're not even going to think about it.  

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