For Orioles fans, Adley Rutschman’s departure is ‘a gut punch’

Terri Metzger and her husband Dave had mapped out a perfect plan. They bought tickets to Tuesday’s Orioles game in the second row, in direct sight of the dugout.

Adley Rutschman would walk out of the dugout. They’d call his name. He’d turn around and see her newest purchase: his All-Star jersey that had arrived two weeks ago. He’d smile, walk up to them and sign her jersey.

Funny how things can change in 24 hours.

“Now, we got to go to Boston,” Dave Metzger, 67, said with a chuckle.

On Monday, the Orioles traded Rustchman to the Boston Red Sox for three prospects, catcher Carlos Narváez and a player to be named later, a drastic and shocking move that sent the face of the team’s rebuild to a division rival. Fans lost a beloved player who represented hope. His departure left them reeling and processing one day later.

All Monday morning, Kate Crothers, 49, refreshed her social media.

Back in June, Orioles president of baseball operations Mike Elias stated that he wanted Rutschman to remain with the Orioles “forever.” Crothers wanted to believe Elias, but sensed from his body language that something was off. Then, last week, when Elias said he was keeping the team’s options open?

“It felt like he was over, but I didn’t want to believe,” she said. “So I just kept waiting.”

Crothers didn’t start watching baseball until 2023 and wanted a player to root for. Her friend pointed her to Rutschman, lauding his character. It didn’t take long for Crothers to see it.

That season, she watched Rutschman put his arm on Yennier Cano’s arm in a jam to calm him down. Cano struck out the next three batters. She was hooked. So she attempted to learn more. Then, she found an old clip from 2022, when Rutschman held back Bryan Baker when the benches cleared in a game between the Orioles and Blue Jays.

To Crothers, Rutschman was a role model, helping her learn how to lead a team at her job. At Christian Faith Night, Rutschman explained how he found fulfillment from helping his teammates. Every Sunday, she’d seek out devotionals he’d post on social media.

“Adley sold me on baseball, he sold me on catching as my favorite position,” said Crothers, who wore a Rutschman jersey and his 2024 players’ weekend hat with his number on it. “And I never looked back.”

But on Tuesday, Crothers stood near the B&O Warehouse with her sunglasses on. Perhaps it was for the sun. Perhaps it was to cover the tears that welled up in her eyes as she spoke. She’s not sure if she’ll re-up her Birdland membership next season. The Orioles are still a part of her, but if more and more players leave, it’ll be hard. Seeing Rutschman traded was hard enough.

Maryland Comptroller Brooke Lierman got a text from a friend who’s a Red Sox fan. The text began, “Don’t hate me.” A few moments later, she saw the news. Her son is at sleepaway camp and she’s still figuring out how to explain to him what happened.

The trade, in her words, was a “gut punch” for many Orioles fans, her included, leading her to post on X about her frustration.

Many fans, including Lierman and the Metzgers, understood the baseball side of trading Rutschman, and the possibility that he wouldn’t have re-signed.

“He’s got to look out for himself,” Terri Metzger said about potential contract extension conversations. “The team’s got to look out for what’s best for the team’s future. I understand, in the end, it’s all about business.”

Perhaps the prospects will pan out in the future. But, to Lierman, his trade represented unrealized expectations.

“Trading away Adley, especially when we’re in wild-card contention, I think represents that we have failed to realize the full potential of the Adley era,” she said over the phone. “We’re naturally inclined to look back and remember the hope and the enthusiasm and the excitement that he brought to Baltimore when he came. To look back on that and to see it end in this way, I think is ... it’s sad and it’s frustrating.”

Joe Winn, 41, had just starting dating his now-wife Annamarie in 2020. Rutschman had been drafted the year prior. The two started watching games together and Annamarie adopted Joe’s fandom.

Whenever Rutschman came to the plate, she’d stop whatever she was doing to watch his at-bats. It became such a tradition between the two that when they got married in 2024, Winn made a deal.

“One of my vows was: ‘I’ll promise I’ll always tell you when Adley’s up,’” Winn joked over the phone.

Joe dropped the couple’s 14-month-old son James off with Annamarie on Monday and felt his phone buzz. He looked down and it was official. Adley was going to Boston.

A week prior, Winn saw the reports about the O’s potentially trading Rutschman to the New York Yankees. He didn’t believe it. But as Monday’s trade rumors transpired, he realized it was more possible than he imagined.

The last thing Winn wanted to see was Rutschman in pinstripes. He hates the Yankees. But he considered the Red Sox the next worst thing. If it had been any other team, Winn wouldn’t have minded as much. But the Red Sox?

“That’s almost unacceptable in my opinion,” Winn said. “If it was, let’s say, the Twins or the Rangers or even the Padres, I feel like it would’ve been more sadness and like your heart ripped out, gut punch. But I think, with the Red Sox being involved, it’s those emotions plus anger.”

As the Orioles took batting practice ahead of Tuesday’s game, Hollis Alcarese and Nolan Catterton stood about 10 feet apart hoping to catch a ball. That wasn’t all they had in common.

They were both 12, at the park with their families. And they both were wearing the jerseys of Rutschman, their favorite player, as they tried to comprehend what had all transpired.

Catterton, on the one hand, hadn’t thought that he would be traded. He thought Rustchman was too good of a clubhouse presence to replace. Not to mention, the Red Sox of it all bothered him, too.

“We’re going to have to play him 13 times now, so it’s going to be a little weird,” he said.

Alcarese turned, revealing a black shirt underneath his jersey with a cartoon photo of Rutschman on the Orioles’ center field scoreboard. He was expecting the trade. It didn’t make it any easier for him to swallow.

Rutschman debuted when Alcarese was 9 years old. From that moment, Alcarese started playing catcher. He wanted to be a leader like Rustchman and be his team’s catcher. So on Monday, when his grandma texted him that Rutschman had been traded, he couldn’t help but get emotional.

“Like I cried, I’m not even joking,” Alcarese said. “[My friends], they were all texting me and saying, like, ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry.’ because they know how much of an Adley fan I was.”