What’s interesting about this sudden maneuver to trade away Grayson Rodriguez — one of the best pitching prospects the Orioles have had this century (been waiting 25 years to use that) — is that nothing about the way Mike Elias talked about Rodriguez at the Craig Albernaz introductory presser just two weeks ago suggested this was on the way.
At that time, Elias talked about Rodriguez with almost great confidence that the club’s big righty would be back to play a significant role in 2026.
While I know the Orioles had to share the medicals on Rodriguez with the Angels, the truth is that they had grown increasingly uncertain about when he would be able to live up to his great promise.
So much so that the Orioles bailed out on four years of control of Rodriguez in exchange for just one definite season of Taylor Ward, who is expected to make about $13 million in his final season of arbitration.
In essence, Angels GM Perry Minasian was willing to take on the risk associated with Rodriguez for a chance at a potentially dominant starting pitcher down the line.
Ward is not a great player, but when taking stock of his 2025 season, his 36 home runs and 103 RBIs look darn good. The trend line for the soon-to-be-32-year-old slugger is one that is not uncommon in today’s baseball environment. The home runs, RBIs and strikeouts have gone up, while the batting average and on-base percentage have gone down:
| PA | AVG | OBP | SLG | HR | K | |
| 2022 | 564 | .281 | .360 | .473 | 23 | 120 |
| 2023 | 409 | .253 | .335 | .421 | 14 | 80 |
| 2024 | 663 | .246 | .323 | .426 | 25 | 163 |
| 2025 | 663 | .228 | .317 | .475 | 36 | 175 |
It’s quite clear that the swap of Anthony Santander’s quality numbers as a switch-hitter for Tyler O’Neill proved a disaster in 2025. While not really his fault, O’Neill appeared in just 54 games and tallied just nine homers and 26 RBIs. What’s more, his baseball IQ on the basepaths and in the outfield exposed his one-dimensional game.
Given that Ward is a more certain version of O’Neill, it would not surprise anyone if the Orioles look for a taker on O’Neill — the Pirates, perhaps? The Orioles could eat, say, half of the $33 million still owed to O’Neill between 2026 and 2027. Perhaps a Mitch Keller return would make sense for both sides, especially if the O’s pay down half of O’Neill’s contract and add other players to the deal.
That begs the question: How the Orioles will address their large need for starting pitching? I think the Orioles have made it abundantly clear that they know they have to pay the piper and acquire two starting pitchers via free agency or trade who are prepared to help the club contend in 2026.
Another area Elias knows he needs to attend to is the ninth inning. On the face of it, there appear to be multiple options on the free-agent market capable of replacing Félix Bautista. However, the number of teams trying to get better in this area quickly outnumbers the demand. What Elias needs to do this time around is strike just as quickly as he did when he signed Craig Kimbrel before the hot stove really began to heat up — only this time he needs to sign a closer with tread left on his tires.
One arm off the board is Raisel Iglesias, who re-signed with the Braves for one year and $16 million.
So far, Elias has checked one box in his quest to make sure 2026 is a lot more fun in Birdland — a significant right-handed batter in Ward.
Photo Credits: Kenya Allen and Colin Murphy/PressBox