Adley Rutschman's latest injury should put an end to any rumors that the Orioles might trade him

The early-season combination of the Baltimore Orioles being much worse than they had hoped and Adley Rutschman looking like he was his old All-Star self made Rutschman a popular subject of mock trades and deadline rumors. There are reasons why these rumors make sense; the Orioles have another catcher signed long-term in Samuel Basallo, while Rutschman only has a year and a half left on his contract, so it seems like the clock may be running out for his time in Baltimore anyway. Also, with how the Orioles' other potential trade pieces have performed, Rutschman would bring by far the largest haul. However, despite all this, the Orioles were never likely to move Rutschman, and now that he has hit the IL just two weeks before the deadline, the chance that he gets moved has dwindled down to zero.

The reason the Orioles were never really looking to trade Rutschman, even if their season had gone completely south, is that Rutschman's skillset as an elite defensive catcher who is also a well-above-average hitter is incredibly rare. Almost every front office in baseball has to choose between having a good defensive catcher who can't hit or a plus offensive catcher that struggles behind the plate. The Orioles don't have to decide when they put Rutschman in the lineup. That's a roster-building cheat code and not something that a team is ever looking to trade away.

The Orioles are not trading Adley Rutschman

The vast majority of prospects traded at the deadline do not pan out. The idea of trading a rare talent at a position as important as catcher, who's under team control for another season, for a handful of prospects should be unthinkable for the Orioles. There's a good chance that Rutschman puts up more WAR in the next season and a half than any prospect the Orioles would get back in a trade for him.

The only way a Rutschman trade could have happened is if a team had been willing to blow the Orioles away with a trade offer. The Orioles front office is very analytical and model-driven; they certainly have a number that they have decided is what Rutschman is worth as far as future value. Becuase of how important he is to the team, they wouldn't trade him if another team brought equal or even slightly more value to the table, but if a team just went crazy and offered an irresponsibly large trade package, they probably would have folded and traded Rutschman.

With Rutschman hitting the IL for a third time this season, any team that was thinking about making an offer the Orioles couldn't refuse is certainly rethinking doing so. If a team pays $1.50 or even $2.00 on the dollar in a Rutschman trade and then he's hurt for the rest of the season, that is going to look terrible for that front office. Front offices do not like to have trades blow up in their faces, and trading a haul for an injured player is just too big a risk.

They might still make an offer, but that offer will reflect the injury risk that a team trading for Rutschman is taking on. If the offers the Orioles receive are toned down due to injury risk, they are not going to accept them. This injury has created a market where the buyers just aren't going to offer enough for the seller to sell. It's not happening; Adley Rutschman will be an Oriole for the rest of this season.

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This article was originally published on birdswatcher.com as Adley Rutschman's latest injury should put an end to any rumors that the Orioles might trade him.