Goodbye, Adley Rutschman

At least it wasn’t the Yankees. Yes, Adley Rutchman, an Oriole yesterday, is a Red Sock today. Not much to say about it that hasn’t been said over the last 20 hours. I understand that he probably wasn’t going to be an Oriole beyond 2027. It still feels bad. Together with yesterday’s trade of Dean Kremer, it feels like an acknowledgment of what we sort of already knew: the plan failed. There is not going to be a championship Orioles team built on the Rutschman-Henderson-Cowser-Westburg-Kjerstad-Holliday foundation that in 2023 looked like, well, the foundation of a championship team. It has not developed that way. I hate to say that I was right. I was, though. That was our chance. I am aware that, on paper, the group of prospects we got back from the Red Sox has more value than the next season and a half of Adley Rutschman. But we’ve had top pitching prospects before. That didn’t work out either. And who will be the first pitcher the new-look Orioles face as we go up against the Angels…