ADLEY RUTSCHMAN TRADED, ORIOLES SELL AT TRADE DEADLINE

The Orioles say goodbye to one of their fan favorites, as Adley Rutschman was dealt to the Boston Red Sox. The once-confident Mike Elias sounded indifferent on Saturday about the O's being buyers and then sold off with moves that he says will still help the team compete for a postseason spot.  #Birdland #BaltimoreOrioles #MLBonX

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:04

This is the end. This is the end.

SPEAKER_02 0:30

Welcome in, ladies and gentlemen, to yet another episode of the Charm City Sports Podcast. I'm your host, Jay Hollihan, and for the second year in a row, we are talking about the Orioles selling at the trade deadline, not adding at the trade deadline. And for the second year in a row, we're saying goodbye to a player that obviously encapsulated the franchise. That I I don't need to explain this all to everyone, but the impact that Adley Rochman had from day one from being a member of the Baltimore Orioles until unfortunately his final game and what was a really unfortunate ending being on the IL to now being traded. As the Baltimore Orioles look towards, in my opinion, a new day when this year ends. A new day in the front office, potentially a new day with your on-the-field coaches, as for the second year in a row, again, you are sellers at the deadline. Something that was unacceptable at the start of this season, was unacceptable when Game 162 ended last year. It was how do we get back to the postseason? How do we make sure we get back to the postseason? How do we put the right coaches in charge? How do we put the best team together? How do we take care of the players behind the scenes so that way they are more fresh, more ready to go through a rigorous 162-game season, something that in the previous two seasons the Orioles were failing to do. They were failing to keep their players on the field. And it wasn't just bang bang injuries, as we talked about here many times. It were non-contact injuries and injuries that just did not need to happen. Now, we start off with a quick recap of the three-game series against the Phillies that ended with the Orioles sitting two and a half games back in wild card play. And we'll open up their series against the Angels at home, still two and a half games back and four games under 500. Now, for the Orioles, they sit a game and a half back as well behind the Minnesota Twins for that final spot on the outside looking in of the wild card. So when we entered the final series against the Phillies before the trade deadline, the Orioles offense gave, in my opinion, the front office, or should have given the front office all the need to say, hey, you know what? You guys should be you guys should have seen enough in order to be able to make a decision here and allow us to be adding at the trade deadline. After the O's fell behind 2-0, Pete Alonzo hits a two-run homer, the Orioles score four runs there in the seventh inning, two-run double by Christian and Carnacio and Strand, then Gunnar Henderson with a two-run triple to make it 6-4 as the Orioles their back half of July was such better baseball. And it should have given it should have given Michael Eyes all the reason to go ahead and get something at the trade deadline. And it did not feel that way as Michael Eyas spoke to the media. Now, you'll hear his quote in a moment, as he talked about ahead of the trade deadline what the Orioles' intentions were. And it was, I have to admit, quite interesting to hear. After game two, the O's couldn't capitalize off of traffic. When they got to Christopher Sanchez, they couldn't capitalize. The Odi Taveras couldn't come through with a knock, and the Orioles would fall 5-0. Shane Baz, who pitched well. Unfortunately, the starting pitching from Baz wasn't helped by the O's offense. And as we well know, Christopher Sanchez has been among one of the best pitchers in all baseball, but the O's this time couldn't get to the Phillies bullpen. And then Sunday, weird rain delay. Kyle Bradish, who gave up a two-run belt in the first three innings that he pitched, would then leave the game, and then Albert Suarez after a long rain delay comes on. I don't know what was going on there with several different facets of the long rain delay between the O's and the Phillies, but when it resumed, Phillies were clobbering the Orioles, they were hitting homers, they were moving runners around the base paths, they were getting to Suarez early and often, and they end up winning the game eight to nothing. And afterwards, Craig Abernaz did not seem pleased with the way the rain delay was being or was handled and the way the just the game itself was handled as uh let's hear him.

SPEAKER_00 6:00

Yeah, I mean it's not an ideal where but the Phillies had their one of their guys going, Wheeler, and we had KB and it would make for a really good game, you know, and it just thinks that they were both done after two innings for Wheeler and three innings for KB.

SPEAKER_02 6:18

And now let's hear from him uh as to what of course we're gonna be talking about here for the majority of this episode as Albernaz was asked about the trade deadline. But you'll not only hear from Craig, but here was Mike Elias as well after the 6-4 win against the Phillies.

SPEAKER_00 6:36

Yeah, like I said before, whatever Mike in the front office. I trust him, trust Mike, and Vanilla's uh that's kind of a weird deadline already, you know, with every everyone in it right now, and you know, whatever happens, happens. You can't really control everything in this game. That's one of the things where us, the players, the coaching staff, trust Mike in the front office.

SPEAKER_01 6:58

I look at where we are in the standings, um, and we do have a shot and we do care about making the playoffs in 2026, um, but we put ourselves a little bit behind the pay ball and we've got some ground to make up. We're not gonna have a strong bias towards being in one of those buckets, buyer or seller. Uh I think we put ourselves in a position where we can't have a bias in either direction, so we are out in the market on the phones, finding out what's going on out there and looking at things on a case-by-case basis, looking for trades that we like, looking for exchanges of talent that we think make sense for the organization. Maybe those are short-term moves where we bring players in that are gonna help us right now or next year. Um, maybe those are longer term moves where we're sending out guys that are on this team right now and bringing in players for the future of the organization. I think we put ourselves in a position where we're not declaring ourselves to be in one bucket or the other, and um we we are going to be kind of assessing moves as the market dictates it. So it makes for a complicated trade deadline and an unpredictable one, and we're preparing for everything.

SPEAKER_02 8:07

So the day after the Orioles defeat the Phillies, six to four, that's his statement, a very non-committal statement that completely changed the tune of what we had heard all throughout the summer. I mean, even when the Orioles were playing worse baseball than they had been playing in the month of July, Michael Eyas seemed very, very convinced that they were gonna add. And listen, this sounds like to me like someone who was on borrowed time at this point. This seems like this is management telling him he has to make the best decisions possible, but we're moving on from Adley Rutschman. I do not believe Michael Lyas was a hundred percent committed to Adley Rutschman, although, you know what, dude, that was your number one overall pick. That was your number one overall pick, and you could not sign him. And then we keep hearing reports about how Gunnar Henderson and the Orioles aren't close to a contract extension and they're far away on it. And I think from what I've heard from people, now post-trade deadline is basically that fans shouldn't necessarily be upset or surprised that they traded away Adley Rutschman. Now you can be upset that they traded him to an interdivision team, but you can't sit there and solely look at that. Because let me tell you what. Why is it? The bigger question is why? Why is it that Adley Rutschman couldn't agree to a contract extension? Gunnar Henderson couldn't come to terms with a contract extension. Now they extended Yanair Kano over the weekend, they extended Kyle Bradish after the All-Star break, they extended Shane Baz. Last year they extended Sammy Basaio, and I told you at the time, last year, that it was interesting that they were able to come to terms with all those players, but they were unable to come to terms with guys who had been up in the bigs with the Orioles for the last couple years. Now I understand who their agents are, and I understand both team both sides need to come to grips and come to an agreement. But why is it that you couldn't sign them early enough before they go to a Scott Boris? Before they decide, you know what? I don't want to sign here, I don't want to, you know, even after the season, when they hit free agency, I don't even want to allow the Orioles to throw as much money at me as they can. Because I have to believe that this decision could be coming from somewhere else. Now, the Orioles receive from the Boston Red Sox Anthony Ianson, who is now the Orioles' number one prospect. They got Kyson Witherspoon as well, right-handed pitcher, outfielder Andy Azakar, and catcher Carlos Navare. Now, Navare's I could understand Carlos Navarez in terms of you know, a week ago where you needed some catching help. But this is not a move that obviously really pushes anything. He's wasn't having that great of a year. He's hitting 187 with three homers and ten RBIs. He's not gonna come in and have an impact on this team, not that we can see. And clearly they added pitching with INC, same thing they did last year with when they traded with the Mets, they continue to add young pitching, young pitching, young pitching. But this, to me, is a total mess by the Orioles organizationally wise. And we knew earlier in the day, when Taylor Ward was traded to the Mariners, now they got some pitching, Alex Hope, Brock Moore, and Harrison Crayling. So they continue to add on that pitching front, but when you saw Taylor Ward be traded, a guy that was the big offseason acquisition, that was obviously not going to be a uh a clear sign that, hey, you know what, the Orioles are gonna look to add. No, that wasn't happening. Now the pitchers he got, Hope has a plus five ERA. I suppose you see what you have in Brock Moore, who's in the minor leagues and has a 3-7-2 ERA and a former seventh round pick in 2024. Uh currently, as of right now in 2026, he's playing double A ball and has a 5-3 or 5-5-6 ERA, I beg your pardon, in 18 games. So you can't imagine he's gonna be coming up at any point in time to do anything. And again, it it's just you weren't exactly too confident in the fact that Mike Elias makes those comments over the weekend, and I imagine the players who, you know, I mean, it's probably been wearing on them for quite a while. That gave I'm sure that gave them zero reason to have, you know, the the final two games there against the Phillies. I mean, hey, we might all be on borrowed time. Then the Oriol trade Tyler Wells to the Tampa Bay Rays for Michael Fourette. Forrett, who has a 3-0 four ERA in his career in the minor leagues, who was actually a former 2023 Orioles pick, and coming out of Triple A for Durham, who has a four he has a 489 ERA and nine starts in triple A. Um, but again, acquired by the Baltimore Oriol via the draft, and then traded this past offseason in the deal that sent Shane Baz to the Tampa Bay or to the Baltimore Orioles. And you know, that seemed a little interesting trading within the division there by Tampa Bay, and now obviously uh two trades by the Orioles inner division, Adley Rutschman to the Red Sox and Wells to the Rays. Now, Dean Kramer, who was already traded to the Twins, and you know, that kind of was a little bit of a sign, but I think especially because you're trading him to a contender, you know, but at first when I saw he was traded, I thought, okay, maybe they got something of value. But no. I mean, you get Reyes, Yo Marto Reyes, a minor league outfielder, so clearly it was the first sign, and then obviously things continue to unravel when you see Wardrade and then obviously Rutschman. But again, it just goes to show you that the commitment level from the top down from the Baltimore Orioles has just been absolutely horrendous. Absolutely horrendous. Again, I can keep San Anton blue in the face. You spoiled the party, mind you, in Ty Tyreek Scuble's final start as a member of the Tigers last week. You have an opportunity to add. Now and this is totally and obviously not what you want still, but you could have sold me. You could have sold me the Orioles trading away Adley Rutschman in his second to last year eligible for arbitration before he becomes a free agent in 2028. You could have sold me trading away Adley Rutschman, getting talent back, like say you traded him to a team that needs a younger or just a catcher that can stabilize their pitching. You know, say you trade him to a National League team, say you trade him to the Phillies, for example, and you got back young pitching. Now, you trade him to a contender in the National League, yes. But say that was your only move and you brought back from different pockets of different trades talent that could have helped you. You don't trade away Taylor Ward. You don't trade away, I mean, maybe you still could trade away Dean Kramer and be okay, and we'll touch on where his spot in the rotation will most likely be filled. But you also look at I mean, the Taylor Ward trade to me is one of the most baffling out of all of this because it just lets you know they are not they were not serious at all about helping this team win. About getting bullpen pitchers that could come in and have an impact. You've seen guys that have been getting traded left and right for not that much. Wasn't clearly not going to cost that much to just get a little bit of help. A little bit of help. And Taylor Wells leaving too just proved that to you. So for the Orioles the rest of the year, what's the incentive? For the fans the rest of the year, what's the incentive? And now on the trade deadline, here's Michael Easter.

SPEAKER_01 18:35

We did go into the deadline with the buy and sell mindset. We had a lot of conversations, and as I said in my most recent media availability, we were ultimately looking for baseball trades exchanges of talent that we wanted to do, that we thought um would help the overall talent level of the organization. And two-way organization, I think we made a lot of realistic days. This is not the situation that we wanted to be in. We're going to be playing for the positive the rest of the way. I think we are actively today in a lot of ways for you. We have 104. I think we are recorded. We're not on me to go into that for 2023. We have to start looking at two and take up as we move. So we did 19. We still have a very good team, very good rotation, and we're going to keep grinding. And we've got talent in the minor league, some new talents, the players that'll come up, and you know, this is part of running a baseball organization. Is sometimes a deadline we call some guys off, especially as they're toward the end of their contractual control.

SPEAKER_02 20:04

One of the first things that just crosses your mind after that statement from Michael Ayas, how in the world can you look into the camera and honestly say that you bettered the baseball team coming out of the trade deadline? You did not better the baseball team. In what way, shape, or form did you better the baseball team? We already talked about the only major league player that you essentially traded for is Carlos Navare. You needed bullpen help. You didn't go out there and essentially get bullpen help. You may have gotten guys for the minor leagues that could eventually come up and help you out of the bullpen, but you're gonna sit there and tell me you still think you're gonna play for a chance at the postseason? You still think these players are going to give it their all to put the Orioles for in the situation to be in the postseason? Are you kidding me? If you're Pete Alonso, you're looking around the clubhouse going, why in the world did I sign here? Why did I sign to this clown show? I mean, this is absolute garbage. And the entire situation just reeks. Just reeks of, you know what? This is your fault, Mike. You know what's happening at the end of the year when this team no doubt doesn't make the postseason. You're gone. And he should listen, even if they somehow miraculously find a way to get in, he should be gone regardless for trading at the deadline. Because this for trading away at the deadline, let me rephrase. Because this is an absolute joke and an absolute travesty of a day for the Orioles. Adley Rutschman, and you know what the b the other thing, too, about Rutschman is this also when he becomes A free agent. You talk about trading him in interdivision, and the Red Sox will have control for him over this year, and if we play baseball next year as well before he hits free agency in 2028. You know what the other part about it is? That still sets up a team like the New York Yankees to go out and get him. Now who knows where we'll be after the labor situation, but that could very well put them in prime situation to go get him. And that is something that you just can't come to grips with as an O'S fan. And I don't know how in the world he's talking about contending for the postseason. Talk about someone on borrowed time, and I'll tell you, Craig Albernaz could be on the way out as well, and it's a shame because I don't think it was fully Albernaz's fault. I think a lot of these problems stemmed back years in a couple years in advance, clearly, because the same issues kept occurring over and over and over again for this Baltimore Oriol team that we've seen in the past. Now, did he help? No, but managers are gonna have their moments. It's just a shame that for him he doesn't fully get a fair shake in his first season as a big league manager as the Orioles are now planning for what life will be like after the CBA, which again is no way you want to be. But we're gonna wrap up here with what's upcoming against the Los Angeles Angels. And I mean, let's face it, Angels 43 and 69 coming into the series. It could legitimately happen where the Orioles could sit 57 and 58 and be two games back in the loss column from the well, the Guardians, let's face it, we would you would need them to get to 57 and 58 as or 57 and 56, they were fifty-seven and fifty-nine. The Orioles legit if everyone loses, and then this is obviously a hypothetical, but everyone loses, the Orioles sweep the Angels, they're right there. And again, it just goes to show you how little faith this Orioles organization had in this team's ability to be able to make the postseason after all. After all the bolster, after all of the well, we're gonna be all in at the deadline. To have it fall so flat is so unfortunate. And here's your starters for the Angels series, game ones, TBD tomorrow. I would have visioned it could be Cade Povich. It would line up with him, line up with his next start. He's one-and-one with a 5-1-2 ERA this year before being shut down earlier this season. Pitched 6-2 thirds innings in his lone home start, gave up a run on five hits with five streakouts and a walk. And the Angels will send the former Baltimore Oriol prospect, Grayson Rodriguez, 3-3 with a 7-9-8 ERA, traded in the Taylor Ward deal. 2-0 with a 5-6-5 ERA on the road and three starts this year. We'll see what the Oriolely. I mean, they're going to come out prepare. I mean, they're all for a lot of them. Could be saying, hey, I'd like to work my way out of here at the end of the year. Could be playing for other jobs elsewhere. We'll see. Because I don't know what incentive you have right now to want to be a member of this mess. Game two, Trevor Rogers, who's 6-7 with the 4-2-7 ERA. He is 3-5 with the 4-4-3 ERA and 12 starts at home. Now, Rogers is interesting that they didn't move on from him in the final year of his contract. Free agent at the end of the year. They didn't move on from him. Some teams in the National League. You look at the Phillies needing an extra starter. Could obviously have been enticed to trade him a couple of miles north to Philadelphia. That could have been a potential trade there. Reed Detmer's on the mound for the Angels, who's 3-7 with the 4-0 three ERA. 3-2 with a 4-flat ERA on 10 starts, in 10 starts, I'm sorry, on the road this year. And then game three is Brandon Young. 8-2 with a 3-3-1 ERA. 2-1 with the 3-1-9 ERA and 10 starts. And I'm sure he's sitting there looking at everything, going, Man, I'm having one of my best years. I gave this organization every reason to believe that I could be a viable starter in whatever wild card series you get into, and he's not going to get that chance. And for the Angels in the series, it's TBD. Could be UC Kikucci, who, like Cade Povich, was injured earlier in the year. Kikucci was 0-3 with the 5-8-1 ERA before being placed on the 60-day IL with left shoulder inflammation. He was 0-2 with a 7-2-0 ERA on the road in five starts before being shut down. Now, again, this could be a series. But with the baseball they were playing, kind of felt like this could be an opportunity for the O's to win a series and continue their good play. Now the Twins, they're taking on the Royals, the Guardians, they're taking on the Mets. You got the Rangers. They will play host to the Giants. Now they lost to the Giants tonight, but they'll play host to the Giants. And then you have the Mariners who are a half a game ahead of the O's, and they take on the Tigers at home. So uh you could just be walking out of this still two and a half games back, but you would still give that clubhouse all the motivation to go out there and finish the rest of the season strong and possibly make the postseason and then head into the CBA and the labor lockout. And who knows with Rutschman? I mean, you know, it's not like he was a free agent at the end of this year. And even then, when they lock out, who knows what's gonna what what baseball's gonna be? We don't know yet. There's gonna be could be a mad dash to dump contracts, could be a mad dash to do so many different things. But if you're the Orioles, you could have sat there and said to yourself, hey, we have an opportunity here to where we could potentially keep him if there is a cap. I just I I just don't I don't understand it. I and I will probably never understand this decision by the Orioles, and I, like the rest of the fan base, are very, very frustrated with the way that this team has been ran. It's just continuously the same crap from the previous ownership. It really is. Well, everyone, thanks for tuning into this episode of the Charm City Sports Podcast. That'll do it for me. Thanks for tuning in, and we'll talk to you later.