Rutschman, 28 years old and the former face of Baltimore’s rebuild, has spent the past two weeks on the injured list because of left wrist inflammation, the latest in his series of physical setbacks. He is “optimistic” and feeling better, according to Breslow, who declined to estimate when Rutschman might return since the Sox’ medical staff hasn’t worked with him yet.
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“He is a proven star in this league,” Breslow said in a video news conference of Rutschman, who is slated to be a free agent after the 2027 season. “The position that our team is [in] right now, the opportunity that we believe we have in front of us — it warranted being aggressive and meaningfully improving our outlook, and we’re hopeful that we did that today.”
Bringing in Rutschman, as well as catcher Jake Rogers (and cash considerations), came at great cost. The Red Sox gave up righthanders Anthony Eyanson and Kyson Witherspoon and outfielder Enddy Azocar — their Nos. 2, 3, and 5 prospects, per Baseball America — as well as a player to be named later and cash considerations.
Narváez, 27, was the Sox’ primary catcher in 2025, when they wound up being the second American League wild-card team, the same spot they hold now. But he had taken a step back this year.
That is what it took for the Red Sox to upgrade one of their most obvious positions of need.
“At this time of year, when you are trying to improve your team, there are not deals that are comfortable,” Breslow said. “You try to remain as disciplined as you can, but I think you have to constantly zoom out to remind yourself that what you’re trying to do is improve your major league team in this season.”
The Sox’ other additions:
▪ Reliever Erik Miller and outfield prospect Carlos Gutierrez, from the Giants for infielder Marcelo Mayer.
Mayer, once considered the shortstop of the future, has been often injured in his six-year pro career and was a well-below-average hitter in parts of two seasons in the majors. The Sox drafted him No. 4 in 2021.
In Miller, 28, the Sox get a hard-throwing lefthander to mix into an already excellent bullpen.
▪ Outfielder Eli White from the Braves for righthander Tyler Uberstine (one game with Boston).
White, 32, can play all three outfield spots. Breslow mentioned being able to rest center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela and right fielder Wilyer Abreu.
▪ Curtis Mead (from the Nationals; broke his wrist in his first game with Boston) and Jahmai Jones (Tigers) in earlier trades.
Rutschman, though, was the big deal, even as he comes with performance/health questions.
Since his standout 2023 — for which he finished ninth in AL MVP voting — he hasn’t quite been the same, hitting .242/.318/.393 the past three seasons. That registers as a tad above league-average, which is good in a catcher context, if not the caliber of bat Baltimore thought it had.
The past 14 months, he has missed time with left oblique, right oblique, left ankle, and now left wrist injuries. He also missed about a week with a concussion in June.
In April, Rutschman flashed his huge offensive potential, hitting .378 with a .404 on-base percentage and .711 slugging rate. Those numbers have dropped to .218/.309/.362 since.
“When we look at [advanced statistics] and some of the quality of contact, you get a lot more excited than what the top line stats might look like,” Breslow said. “If you kind of look at the performance a little bit more under the hood, you see really strong bat-to-ball, really good ball flight relative to previous seasons, which gives us some excitement about his ability to do damage in our park.”
Throughout his career, Rutschman has rated as a good-to-excellent defensive catcher. He is on the high end of that spectrum this season, with the reputation matching the numbers.
Those skills plus Rutschman’s intangibles and leadership qualities minimized the Sox’ concern over introducing a new backstop to a pitching staff that had excelled with Connor Wong and Narváez.
“It’s a non-zero consideration, but when you have a chance to get Adley Rutschman, you do it and then you figure out the rest,” Breslow said. “We have extreme confidence that we’ve got a pretty good idea of who Adley is and how much we’ll benefit from having him in the clubhouse and from having him behind the plate.”
Among the areas the Sox did not upgrade: starting rotation depth and shortstop.
Breslow cited in-house options as reasons to feel confident about the infield, listing fill-in starter Andruw Monasterio, the injured Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Trevor Story, and prospect Franklin Arias.
Still, the day registered as by far the grandest of Breslow’s three trade deadlines in charge of the Red Sox, following marginal moves the previous go-rounds.
“We thought about the identity of the team and the relationships and the way that the group had come together over the last couple of months,” he said. “We didn’t want to go through a deadline where we just kind of rearranged the chairs but didn’t actually get better and introduce the possibility of messing with the culture and the environment.”
Tim Healey can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @timbhealey.
