There are a lot of trade rumors surrounding Baltimore Orioles star catcher Adley Rutschman right now. The Orioles recently signed star catching prospect Samuel Basallo to a massive contract extension, which puts Rutschman’s job in question.
Bleacher Report’s Zachary Rymer recently put together a blockbuster trade package that would send Rutschman to the Texas Rangers in exchange for starting pitcher Jack Leiter.
“Two years ago, Jonah Heim was an All-Star and Gold Glove winner for a Rangers team that won the World Series. Today, he’s a 30-year-old who doesn’t add much value on either side of the ball,” Rymer wrote. “His OPS has been in the low .600s in each of the last two seasons, and his defense no longer rates well.
“Of course, the Rangers need to think about upgrading their entire offense. It is the reason they have failed to launch in 2025, as they have scored three or fewer runs in half of their games. Though Rutschman has been no sure thing at the plate in his own right, at least he’s a better bet at this stage than Heim. He’s three years younger, and you only have to go back to the first half of 2024 to find him with a .780 OPS.”
This would be quite the shocking trade, and it doesn’t seem too likely.
For the Orioles, it would work because they need pitching as badly as anybody. Leiter would slot into their rotation as a potential ace of the future. Basallo would take over the catching duties from Rutschman,
But the Rangers likely wouldn’t want to part ways with such a valuable pitcher in a one-for-one deal like this. Rutschman is good, but he’s struggled recently, while Leiter has flashed ace potential.
Still, a potential Rutschman trade could make sense down the line.
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