Yankees insider confirms Adley Rutschman trade pursuit is legit as rumors build

There's nothing that would signal a regime failure quite as strongly as Mike Elias of the Baltimore Orioles trading 2019 draft centerpiece and contention bedrock Adley Rutschman to the New York Yankees. There also seems to be nothing the Yankees would enjoy more than pulling it off.

After a late Sunday night filled with an overwhelming amount of half-sourced online buzz, Yankees insider Joel Sherman hopped onto Twitter on Monday morning to strongly hint that, while a deal will still be a tough needle to thread, it's clearly something New York wants to leave the deadline having completed.

Sherman stoked some additional deadline flames by re-posting his article on Rutschman's availability from Saturday, touting that the O's catcher "is a player of great interest to the Yankees".

Without Ryan Jeffers, Shea Langeliers, or Hunter Goodman on the market (probably), it at least feels good to hear that the Yankees are engaging to the fullest extent of their capability on Rutschman, and might pull off a Hail Mary here.

Yankees-Adley Rutschman trade conversation "in good faith" would include lots of controllable pitching

Even if the Yankees and Orioles are having an AL East tax-free conversation about Rutschman, without any prohibitive barriers ... he's still only going to be available at a high cost. That cost will likely be based on controllable pitching; the Yankees could be forced to deal from their current rotation in order to complete this transaction. Will Warren and Ryan Weathers will undoubtedly be discussed, and Elmer Rodriguez, the top-ranked pitcher on the farm, will likely be dangled as well.

The Orioles don't have to deal Rutschman. If they do, they'll be forced to acknowledge it as an admission of failure. But the catcher, injured again and currently rehabbing, is only controllable through 2027 and has the extended Samuel Basallo behind him. Baltimore may have set this trade in motion when they gave Basallo the contract they never found space on Rutschman's ledger for.

If — IF! — the Yankees get this across the finish line, they'll be slightly walking back their commitment to Austin Wells keeping his consistency with the pitching staff alive. They'll also be weakening a common opponent and taking a massive step forward in terms of sturdiness, if not health and stability. Rutschman and his 115 OPS+, even in a semi-injured down year, is certainly a player of "great interest" to a lot of us.

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