The player-for-player trade of right-hander Grayson Rodriguez in exchange for Los Angeles Angels outfielder Taylor Ward certainly was a surprise to Birdland.
Outside of any return for Rodriguez, just the dealing him in general surprised me.
Do I dislike it? Not at all. I’m just surprised.
Watching last season, we obviously knew starting pitching was the cosmic black hole that consumed any chance of success for the Baltimore Orioles before the calendar ever hit May.
That’s why shipping off an arm, who, if healthy, was fully expected to be competing for that starting rotation is a shock.
What this move tells me is a few things.
With Taylor Ward being the return, who was a 36-home-run and 103-RBI player last season, the first thing I notice is that president of baseball operations and acting-GM Mike Elias may be finally operating differently.
Acquiring this one-year rental outfielder shows me this deal was a win-now move.
Was Rodriguez going to pitch a full season, even if healthy, this year? Most likely not. He was going to be on a pitch count, and with the injury history, counting on his right arm was certainly a risk.
The fact Elias was willing to give up the four years of control on Rodriguez’s contract screams win-now, which is polar opposite to his operations in previous offseasons and trade deadlines.
The thought of that also makes me finally believe when Elias mentioned a few weeks ago that he is not afraid to lose draft picks by offering contracts to free agents who had been offered a qualifying offer.
If he will give up four years of control on an arm that is better than any arm Elias himself has actually used a draft pick on, I certainly believe now he will be willing to forgo said draft pick for a high level major league free agent, which is the kind of player you hope that draft pick would one day become anyway.
That’s a good thing.
Another thought that immediately comes to mind is how this shapes the outfield depth and future moves that will be made.
We know Tyler O’Neill is not to be relied on. If he is healthy and performs similar to his 2024 season that blindly convinced Elias that he is somehow worth anything beyond $5, then the addition of Ward is a great combo with O’Neill.
If O’Neill’s injury plagues continue, this Ward move really helps lock down a corner outfield spot in replacement of O’Neill.
Over the last two seasons, Ward has played in 313 games. Outside of pitching, that corner outfield power-hitting righty was the next most-needed acquisition coming into the offseason.
What this move does is lock up a position that was causing issues last year and potentially allows some of the existing outfield depth to now become further upgraded. It may even free up some of that depth to become pieces to acquire more pitching.
My last takeaway is that this may be a sign that this could finally be the offseason we have been hounding Elias for, which goes back to him operating differently.
For a team so desperately needing starting pitching and a GM whose job may rely on fixing that rotation this offseason, I don’t see him shipping off Rodriguez without a plan.
I think moving Rodriguez now frees up rotation room for at least two guys who can be relied on as a number one or two via free agency or trade.
To me, it also seems like since that move was made, Elias knows he truly has no choice now but to bolster this rotation with guys who are not 35+ years old.
Every fan in Birdland wishes nothing more than to have had Rodriguez’s tenure with the club turn out better. A former first-round draft pick turned number one pitching prospect is always exciting, and as we have seen before and again now, it is never a guarantee.
Again, unfortunately, we can add Rodriguez to the “top pitching prospects that the Orioles organization failed” list.
With that being said, we wish Grayson Rodriguez absolutely nothing but the best in Anaheim and hope for full health.
We also want to welcome to Birdland Taylor Ward. We hope you like crab cakes.
What are your thoughts on this deal? Let us know in the comments below! Make sure to follow The Baltimore Battery on Facebook, X, Bluesky and TikTok, and use the hashtag #baltimorebattery when sharing our content!
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