Suddenly, every San Francisco Giants fan seems to want President of Baseball Operations Buster Posey to orchestrate a trade for Baltimore Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman.
“Buster Posey please trade for Adley Rutschman this offseason,” one fan said in a post on X.
“ADLEY RUTSCHMAN, YOU ARE A SAN FRANCISCO GIANT,” another fan said in their own X post.
The Giants were previously tied to Rutschman in trade rumors at the 2025 MLB Trade Deadline. That was back when many fans and reporters still thought San Francisco was going to buy talent to help them compete for a playoff spot at the deadline.
These fresh calls for Posey to make a deal for Rutschman come after the Orioles signed catching prospect Samuel Basallo to an eight-year, $67 million contract extension. Many insiders and fans believe this makes Rutschman expendable, and he will be on the trading block.
Rutschman Has Had A Down Season
Rustchman is a two time All-Star and the 2023 Silver Slugger award winner at catcher. Not only has he been elite offensively during his career, but he’s a great defender as well.
But 2024 has been a massive disappointment for Rutschman. The career .256 hitter, who hit .277 in 2023, has hit only .226. His on-base and power numbers are also down across the board.
Rutschman has been somewhat hampered by an oblique injury this season, with two separate IL stints limiting him to only 85 games.
His regression is a big reason why he could be on the trading block, but also a significant development that should give the Giants or any other organization looking to trade for Rutschman some pause.
Is Rutschman An Upgrade Over Patrick Bailey?
The Giants do need to upgrade the catching position somehow.
Patrick Bailey is still arguably the best defensive catcher in baseball. His value will dip when pitch framing is made basically irrelevant by the ABS system, which is all but guaranteed to be put in place in 2026. But he still has plenty of value as a defensive catcher.
However, Bailey is having the worst offensive season of his career, and the bar was already pretty low. The career .227 hitter is hitting .211 this season. His power numbers are also down, with only 2 home runs.
Even if Rutschman has another poor season behind the plate by his standards in 2026, he would be an offensive upgrade over Bailey in every category.
But maybe Rutschman doesn’t even need to replace Bailey. Maybe the Giants can keep both Rutschman and Bailey, ousting Andrew Knizner or any other potential backups from the roster.
That would give the Giants the best defensive catching unit in baseball and take a ton of offensive pressure off of Bailey.
What Would the Giants Need To Give Up?
The biggest potential obstacle for a Rutschman trade is likely the Giants’ prospects. San Francisco is just now rebuilding what was a very shallow prospect pool. They’re not going to be thrilled to give up any of their top prospects.
If the Giants deal away a prospect, it absolutely has to be an infielder other than Bryce Eldridge. The Giants have no organizational pitching depth, so they can’t afford to part ways with any pitching prospects. They’d only be in the market for a Rutschman deal because their catching prospect pool isn’t great either.
They have lots of outfielders, but none of them have produced at the MLB level and performed well enough to take over for Mike Yastrzemski in right field.
The Giants infield is pretty set, however. Matt Chapman, Willy Adames and Rafael Devers all have big contracts. Bryce Eldridge figures to be called up soon. And Casey Schmitt has been a bright spot in a tough season at second base.
So the headliner for a Giants’ package for Rutschman needs to be Josuar Gonzalez, Gavin Kilen, Jhonny Level or a combination of those players.
Giants fans, do you want to see Adley Rutschman suit up for San Francisco in 2026?
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This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
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