Why Blue Jays fans would be happy to see this player leave the AL East

On a recent episode of MLB Tonight, the topic about the future of one of the Toronto Blue Jays biggest rivals, the Baltimore Orioles, was brought up. In the discussion, host Harold Reynolds believed that the Orioles are ready to make a huge move this offseason, one that would involve "franchise catcher" Adley Rutschman. Reynolds suggested that with Rutschman now heading towards his arbitration years, Baltimore should trade the 27-year-old catcher to net the organization a plethora of prospects in which they can build upon.

This notion was further supported by co-host Greg Amsinger when he brought up the fact that the Orioles must have something up their sleeve when they selected a catcher with each of their first two picks in the 2025 MLB Draft. On top of that, MLB insider Bob Nightengale stated that Rutschman could be the biggest position player on the trade block this winter. If that is indeed the case, Blue Jays fans should be more than happy to see him leave the American League East for good.

Why Blue Jays fans would be happy to see this player leave the AL East

After all, Toronto have had many Jays’ killers in recent years, ranging from Ryan Mountcastle to Cal Raleigh. But none to the level of damage that Rutschman has practically done to the Blue Jays despite 2025 being just his fourth season in the major leagues. There is no other team in which he had put up more runs scored (38), hits (64), doubles (15), home runs (13) and RBIs (39) against than Toronto. More significantly, he was able to accomplish those numbers in just 50 total games played with a career .320 batting average and .982 OPS in those contests.

Of course, there’s still a slim possibility that the Orioles could deal Rutschman to one of the Jays’ other AL East rivals in the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees or Tampa Bay Rays. But if their main purpose in giving up such an elite player to get the team back into contention as soon as possible, then trading him to a team within the same division so that he could come back to haunt them more frequently would not be the best course of action for the organization.

For the Jays’ sake, they could completely avoid Rutchman altogether by doing the unthinkable in acquiring the star catcher. But with Alejandro Kirk officially establishing himself as the unanimous No. 1 option behind the plate for Toronto this season, that scenario becomes highly unlikely. 

Nevertheless, knowing that one of the best power-hitting catchers in the league could be on his way out of the AL East division would be a dream come true for the Jays, as it would strengthen their hold as perennial contenders going forward.