The trade deadline has come and gone, and the Yankees were unable to land a star catcher like two of their American League East counterparts.
The Boston Red Sox's dramatic turnaround has made the AL East a three-team sprint to the finish line. The Red Sox are just two games back of the Yankees, and the Rays are 3 1/2 games ahead of the Yankees. All three teams went into the trade deadline with a clear need for an upgrade at catcher, and the Red Sox and Rays got the job done. The Rays acquired Liam Hicks from the Miami Marlins, and the Red Sox made a stunning trade for Adley Rutschman.
The Yankees were also reportedly in on Rutschman.
"We had many conversations with Baltimore but were unable to obviously meet the price,” Cashman said, per the Associated Press' Larry Fleisher. “So they did their business elsewhere and we kept grinding through it, but ultimately in the end of the day, there was no opportunity that existed that we felt good enough about to be able to push through on.”
Rutschman cost the Red Sox Anthony Eyanson (Boston's No. 2 prospect, MLB's No. 49 prospect), Kyson Witherspoon (Boston's No. 4 prospect), Enddy Azocar (Boston's No. 5 prospect), Carlos Narváez and a player to be named later.
It was certainly a huge ask from the Orioles, but it was a price the Red Sox were willing to meet. Perhaps the Orioles were asking for more simply because they knew that they would be helping a rival. Regardless, the Red Sox made a major addition to their team that could help them make a miraculous push to win the division.