Orioles trade Grayson Rodriguez to the Angels for Taylor Ward in a SHOCKING move

Orioles trade Grayson Rodriguez to the Angels for Taylor Ward in a SHOCKING move

It is the trade that frankly no one saw coming. We’ll try to make sense of Grayson Rodriguez for Taylor Ward coming up on this episode of the Locked On Orioles podcast. [Music] You are Locked on Orioles, your daily Baltimore Orioles podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. your team every day. Hey there, Orioles fans. Today is Wednesday, November 19th, 2025, and welcome back in to the Locked On Orioles podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. As always, I’m your host, Connor Nukem, and coming up on this special midday episode of the podcast, we are reacting to the trade that is uh sent some shock waves through Birdland since late Tuesday night. As it was not even really first reported, it was just announced by the Orioles around 11:00 p.m. Eastern time on Tuesday. The Orioles have sent Grayson Rodriguez to the Los Angeles Angels in a one forone trade for outfielder Taylor Ward. We’re going to talk about why the Orioles would trade Rodriguez at this point, what Ward brings to the O’s offensively and what this means for the rest of the off season and for this franchise moving forward. But that’s all coming up on this episode of the Locked Orioles podcast, which is now part of the number one sports podcast network, the Locked Podcast Network. And this episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Just download the FanDuel app today. So, if you’re on the Locked on Orioles YouTube channel now, you know, there is about a two-minute YouTube short that I posted on the channel on Tuesday night. Wasn’t able to kind of get up and get a full live episode out to you on Tuesday. Doing the best I can here with a midday episode on Wednesday. Hope that is enough here because this is this is quite a stunner. This this is an absolute stunner. And we’re going to get to like who is Taylor Ward, how he helps the Orioles in 2026. He’s a good baseball player. We’re going to talk about that in the second segment. Right? We got to start with why are the Orioles trading Grayson Rodriguez, right? If you look at it from the Taylor Ward side, in a vacuum, the Orioles are getting a productive and healthy and consistent right-handed hitting power bat who fits in their outfield. In a vacuum, Taylor Ward is the exact kind of player I think the Orioles were trying to add this off seasonason. And quite frankly, they might have been talking to the Angels about a trade for Ward without including Grayson Rodriguez. Now, he is a free agent after 2026. He’s not a center fielder. He’s a corner outfielder. But this Orioles lineup is immediately better with adding Taylor Ward. Okay, let’s let’s set that and let’s push that out of the way for a moment because the real question is and you know if the Orioles had traded for Taylor Ward and you know sent a couple of prospects over to Anaheim yeah I’d be doing an episode right now but the reaction would be nothing close to what it is because it would have been hey the Orioles you know upgraded their outfield got a good hitter that can hit in the middle of their lineup they were aggressive they did all those things and got Taylor Ward separately but when you trade away Grayson Rodriguez, that’s going to be the main story here, even though he’s probably never going to throw a pitch again for the Baltimore Orioles, right? That’s that’s the most likely thing here. So, why would they do it? Let’s start with kind of the background on how we got here with Grayson Rodriguez. All right, he’s 26 years old, actually. Just turned 26 on uh what, Sunday. So, I guess happy birthday, Grayson, on that one. Uh, but he was the Orio’s first round pick at a high school in Texas in 2018. That was the final draft that Dan Duket led before Mike Elias took over that November. And he was the organization’s number one pitching prospect for a long time. He dominated the minor leagues. He got himself to AAA in 2022 and he seemed primed to debut. He had a 220 erra in 14 starts in Norfol. The Orioles were kind of turning things around in that 2022 season. They had called up Adley. they were playing better in June and July. Grayson Rodriguez looked dominant. It was like if they add Grayson to this rotation mix. This team could actually get to the postseason and then came the first of a long string of injuries and it was pretty poorly timed. He suffered a lat injury in a start in AAA in June and it seemed like I mean he was maybe at most a month and maybe less away from getting a big league callup and that lat issue took him out until September. Now, he did come back and make a few minor league starts in September, but the Orioles by midepptember when Grayson was ready, they were out of the playoff race. It was not worth calling him up for a couple of starts. He kind of ran out of time to make his major league debut, but he came into spring training in 2023 and the goal was Grayson Rodriguez is in the Orioles opening day rotation. I thought he did enough to get that deserved mention, but instead the Orioles sent him back to Triple A to begin the year. I had a lot to say about that move. I still don’t think it was the right decision, but he forced or he didn’t force the Orioles rotation kind of forced Grayson’s hand because in the first week of the season, Kyle Bradish in the second inning of a start takes a line drive off his foot, has to leave the game. Tyler Wells volunteers to come in and pitch in relief and gives the Orioles five scoreless innings in relief. But Tyler Wells was scheduled to be the number five starter and pitch the next day. So the O’s needed a starting pitcher and they made the roster move to call up Grayson Rodriguez to start and make his major league debut in Texas anyway. And he stuck around for a little while and it wasn’t very good. It was a 7.35 ERA in his first 10 starts before he was sent back down to Triple A. And you know, it made Mike Elias look a little better to be like, “Yeah, maybe he wasn’t quite ready to be on that opening day roster.” But he pitched well in AAA, had eight great starts, and he came back when the Orioles needed him later in the season, and he was dominant. Had a 2.58 erra in 13 starts down the stretch in the Orioles rotation, helping lead them to the AL East title. And he got the start in game two of the ALDS against the Rangers. Now, that start didn’t go well. Well, he gave up a bunch of runs and the Orioles lost that game at home, but it was a a vote of confidence into Grayson that he had turned things around and this guy could be a number one for this rotation moving forward. And he wasn’t as dominant when he came back in 2024, but he was still putting up really good numbers. 20 starts to begin the 2024 season. He had a 386 erra. He had a good strikeout rate, a low walk rate. He he ran into a little bit of a home run issue and probably given up more runs than he wanted, but he looked really good and looked like he was going to make a playoff start for the Orioles in 2024 and continue to get better. And then the injuries came back for Rodriguez. It was once again another lat issue. He was scratched from a start in Toronto in early August with a lat strain and ended up missing the rest of the season. Oriel said in late September or October, he just kind of ran out of time. He was throwing, but he just couldn’t get himself back. But they said, “Hey, he’s going to be fully healthy for spring training 2025.” He did also have a small shoulder issue earlier in 2024 as well. So, he comes in in 2025 and immediately in early March, there’s some elbow pain after a spring training start. The Orioles shut him down. He starts throwing again in April. Lat strain. Another one pops up in April. They shut him down again. He starts throwing again later in the summer. Boom. Elbow pain returns in July while he’s trying to pitch back into it. Eventually, he gets elbow deb brement surgery to just like remove some bone chips and loose bodies in his elbow in August. And the Orioles out of it at that point declare Grayson Rodriguez out for the remainder of the season, but hopeful he’ll be ready for spring training 2026. And the Orioles made it clear that this pain, this issue was because of the loose bodies, the bone chips, it was in the back of the elbow. It was not a UCL thing. It was not a UCL tear, nothing that would need Tommy John surgery. The Orioles were pretty clear and Grayson was pretty clear about that. And I know there were a lot of conspiracy theories like, why is he not getting Tommy John? Well, the injury didn’t show that he needed Tommy John surgery, right? Not every elbow injury leads to Tommy John. There are other things that can happen in your elbow besides a UCL tear, but there was clearly something going on. and and Grayson, you know, spoke publicly about it multiple times last season about trying to figure out why he had so many lat strains. Talked about even changing his mechanics to try and make it easier on his shoulder and maybe that messed up his elbow. And then Mike Elias speaking at the GM meetings last week, and this was relayed by Andy Kusco of the Baltimore Banner said, quote, “Grace, when asked about Grayson said, this is quote not something we’re planning around very heavily talking about Grayson, but he’s a guy that provides a real wild card for us talent-wise.” And then Elias said, quote, “You miss a year and what, two months? We’ve got to be realistic about that.” So that quote kind of made you think, hey, the Orioles still know Grayson Rodriguez is good when he’s healthy. But that clearly said to me that even though the Orioles were, you know, being optimistic about him being ready for spring training and he was already throwing at this point again, that tells me the Orioles were still worried about the injury status of Grayson Rodriguez and weren’t willing to count on him to have much of a role and definitely not have a rotation spot for the 2026 Orioles. And you know, that plays a factor now. That quote looks a lot bigger now that they traded him a week later, right? you think about like, wow, they really weren’t able to rely on him. But is that the sole reason that the Orioles would trade away a guy with ace type stuff and potential who has shown good things at the big league level and still has four years of team control left? Like Grayson Rodriguez is not set to be a free agent until after the 2029 season. You would have four more seasons of Grayson. To trade that away, there’s got to be something going on, especially in an organization that is looking for starting pitching. He’s a promising young arm. there’s something else there. So I have two main know reasons slash theories that have come to me to be the reason that I can manage this trade happening in my brain you know still about as I’m recording 12ish hours since the news broke. One of them is going to be more based on facts and another one is going to be you know hang the giant pure speculation banner. So, here is the two main kind of thoughts and theories about what went on here and why the Orioles would trade Grayson Rodriguez at this point. Number one is the one that’s a little more based in fact and and reality and just what we’ve seen from the situation is that the Orioles are just really concerned about Grayson Rodriguez medically, not just right now, but in the future as well. they maybe see that, you know, it’s not just as simple as him getting Tommy John surgery, missing, you know, 12 to 18 months, and then being good, like just happened to Kyle Bradish, right? If that were the case, he would have already gotten Tommy John at some point in the last year and would be well on his way to his hopeful full recovery. I think they believe there’s something more either something worse or something that’s harder to figure out going on in there. And there’s just too many medical questions for them right now, not just in the in the moment, but long term. And potentially it makes the Orioles worry that Grayson just may never be the same pitcher again that he was, you know, down the stretch in 2023 and in 2024 before the injury. And so I’m thinking, you know, he did start throwing this off seasonason and maybe the Orioles saw that and it didn’t look good. It didn’t look like the same Grayson and so they decided to shop him and just see how other teams would value him. And maybe it was a potential where the Angels, you know, they’re not quite to Rocky’s level, but they operate a little differently than other teams do. And maybe the Angels were just willing to take on the medical risk with Grayson and give up a player the Orioles really coveted in Taylor Ward. As I mentioned, it wouldn’t be surprising at all if the Orioles, separate of Grayson Rodriguez, were targeting Taylor Ward in a trade already this offseason. So, the Angels were able to dangle a player that they knew the Orioles wanted, and that was enough for the O’s to at least begin those conversations. Now, it’s weird to do this move so early in the offseason, right? November 18th, you’re not even at the winter meetings yet. so much off season where you in theory could be, you know, shopping Grayson around, pitting teams against each other, trying to get better and better deals, you know, maybe get another arm or a hitter with more team control than just the one year that Taylor Ward has. But maybe the Orioles are just so concerned with the medicals and other teams are too, right? For a trade to go through, the other team has to have Grayson pass the physical. And this trade is official because the Orioles announced it. So, we’re we’re still not waiting for the Angels to be okay with the medicals. And it’s not like a big league standard of passing medicals. It varies team to team. It’s what we saw with Jeff Hoffman last year, right? Failed the medical for the Braves and the Orioles, but passed it with the Blue Jays, and he signed with the Blue Jays based on the teams themselves and what their specific team doctors see in what they look at. So, there is a a scenario here where the Orioles did shop him around and just wanted to see, okay, what would teams give up? There were a lot of other teams that were already concerned about Grayson and his injury history. And then seeing that a team like the Orioles that need starting pitching is shopping around a pitcher with the talent of Grayson with four years of team control left. Smart GMs might have been like, “Okay, we already thought this guy was hurt. Now, if Mike Elias is shopping this guy around, he must be really, really hurt. We’re going to take our hands off of any trade discussions here.” and maybe the Angels being the Angels and some of the I’ll say interesting decisions uh with player personnel that they’ve made over the years, they saw it as look, we see the concerns, too. But we are willing to take the risk because we are the Angels and we need pitching even more than the Orioles do. And even if Grayson misses a full year or two full years, we think he can still give us some good innings and we’re not going to resign Taylor Ward anyway. So here you can take his last year and as you’re the Angels, you can save some money by doing that as well. And maybe the Angels, even if other teams were semi-interested because even with scary medicals, you’d have to think some other teams besides the Angels were at least talking to Mike Elias. Maybe the Angels were the only team that actually offered an impact player. That’s what Taylor Ward is, as we’re going to talk about in a moment. He is an impact player that is going to make the Orioles better. And maybe the Angels were the only team that offered that. and Ward was a good enough return for the Orioles that they just said, “Listen, we know it’s a risk, but we are betting on 2026 and we don’t know what Grayson’s going to be. We know Taylor Ward makes us better to turn things around in 2026.” They were never going to get much from Grayson maybe next year anyway. And we’re also worried about the long-term injury history. That is again just kind of pulling together some pieces, not strict reporting. That is what I think is the most likely scenario here on why Grayson was traded. Theory number two, again, hang the giant pure speculation banner. This is from nothing I’ve heard, nothing I’m reporting on. This is just purely speculation from how we kind of weird this move is and and jarring and bizarre. I think theory number two is that there is some sort of disagreement between Grayson Rodriguez and the front office, whether it’s the doctors, Mike Elias, the Orioles themselves about his medicals. The way that both sides have talked about this over the past two years with Grayson being like, I don’t know what’s going on. I’m trying to figure it out. the Orioles being, you know, with Michael being very non-committal to Rodriguez being a part of the team and relying on him, even though we know how talented Grayson is and we’ve seen it the last couple of years when he’s actually been on the mound and the fact that he just hasn’t pitched since July of 2024. You could read into those things that there’s a little tension between both sides and you know, maybe the Orioles wanted him to try other deliveries or try other treatment that Grayson was not willing to do or vice versa, right? Grayson wanted to go into other things and try outside medical things and the Orioles didn’t want him to do that and they were able to bar him from doing that somewhat maybe because of a contract thing and all of that potentially was causing an issue. Now, I’m not saying Grayson Rodriguez is anywhere near the talent level of this player, but maybe it’s a little bit of a Luca Donuch with the Mavericks situation, right? One of the best players in the world, leading the Mavericks to the NBA Finals, and the Mavs trade him to the Lakers last year, one of the most shocking trades in sports history. And there was reporting that came out after that the Mavericks were just unhappy with how Donets like handled himself and his body and his conditioning and just got fed up with it and traded it. Now, I don’t know if it’s to that level, and obviously Grayson is not the talent that Luca Donuch is, but maybe there was some tension, some feuding, and the Orioles just kind of got fed up with Grayson. Maybe Grayson was a little fed up with the Orioles as well, and they said, “Hey, we’re tired of dealing with this guy. He hasn’t helped us on the field in a year and a half anyway. And because of the medicals, we’re concerned he won’t help us either in 2026 when we’re trying to turn things around and get back to the playoffs. And we’re even concerned that the future beyond 26 is going to be murky because again bringing in theory number one of this weird medical issue. Let’s just shop him around and we’re just going to take the best offer we can get. The Angels offered an impact player in Taylor Ward. That was the best offer. And the Orioles said, “Why hold on to him? Let’s just pump up our off seasonason now and pull the trigger.” And that is what they did. So again, pure speculation, theories that that help it make sense in my brain. Still a bizarre move. bizarre timing. I would think there’s going to be more reporting coming out about this, but at the end of the day, a lot of this is going to hinge on the long-term future looking at this deal. In the short term, I think the Orioles are better today than they were yesterday, at least for 2026, because Taylor Ward is a good player that helps this lineup. So, let’s talk about Taylor Ward and how he fits with the Orioles coming up next. But first, this episode of the Lockdown Orioles podcast is brought to you by FanDuel. The NBA is back, and there’s no better place to get in on the action than FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Even if you miss the start of the game or want to ride the hot hand, FanDuel has live bets on everything from who will score next to fourth quarter comebacks. Plus, you can even combine your live bets into a same game parlay for a shot at a bigger payout. It keeps every game exciting, especially when your team is making that late push. And right now, FanDuel is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. So head to fanduel.com to sign up and play your game with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. So, obviously the headline grabbing part of this is that the Orioles traded away Grayson Rodriguez. But let’s talk about the other side of the trade because in return, the Orioles have received 31-year-old will be 32 in December. But right now, 31-year-old right-handed hitting corner outfielder Taylor Ward in a one for one swap in this deal. So, let’s talk about how Ward who he is and how he helps the Orioles. He is in his final year of arbitration. So, this is a rental. He will be a free agent after 2026. MLB Trade Rumors estimates he will cost about $13.7 million for the Orioles in arbitration for the 2026 season. So, this does up the payroll because Grayson was only going to make probably about a million this year as well. Now, Ward is coming off a good season with the Angels. He played all year. He had a 117 WRC plus 157 games over 660 played appearances 228 317 475 slash had a career-high 36 home runs drove in 103 runs as well again for that 117 WRC plus he was worth 2.9 wins at fan graphs and again that makes him 17% better than league average as a hitter this year again the 36 homers career high Orioles leader had 17 this year so that’ll bring some more power his 475 five slugging percentage also a careerhigh. Only Raone Lauraniano was better for the Orioles this year and he stayed healthy again. Played 157 games this year after playing 156 games in 2024. That is an everyday healthy type player. Orioles did not have a lot of those in the 2025 season. And for Taylor Ward, he did see his strikeout rate go up a little bit. 26.4% was his highest K rate since the 2020 season. but he doesn’t really chase. A 20.7% chase rate in 2025. Only Dylan Beavers had a lower chase rate in Baltimore. Also has really good zone contact rates, which means he’s not swinging and missing a lot inside the zone. He does swing and miss when he does generally chase, but it’s not a huge inzone swing and miss. When he’s picking out the right pitches, he is doing damage. In reality, you could say, you know, maybe a a change the Orioles could make with Ward is that maybe he doesn’t swing enough. He had a 37.6% swing rate this year, which was not only by far the lowest of his career among qualified hitters in the majors in 2025. Only Juan Sodto swung less than Taylor Ward did this season. And obviously, profile-wise, Juan Sodto and Taylor Ward are very different hitters. Now, it might work for Taylor Ward. Like if you look at the 10 hitters who swung the least this year, five or six of them are really good hitters. So it it can certainly work for you to be that patient. I mean he did end up posting a walk rate of 11.3% which was his highest since 2019. So part of that certainly worked out for Ward. But maybe you could have him just get a little more aggressive in the zone. There were probably too many looking strikeouts that he took this year which upped his K rate. and maybe he could drive some more pitches and do even more damage than the 36 homers he hit this year. But the big thing with Taylor Ward is he’s been a good hitter and essentially an everyday player for four years now. He has a 117 WRC plus since the start of 2022. That is 61st in Major League Baseball. And I say, Connor, 61st in Major League Baseball. Is that really a ranking you want to put out there? But that essentially means, you know, 61 players, essentially two per team. He could be seen as one of the two best hitters on any given team over the past four years combined. You you can’t get that with a lot of guys who are staying barely fairly healthy. Like Taylor Ward is not a star, but in that stretch since the beginning of 2022, these are players who have been around Ward’s production, but Ward has actually been better than as a hitter. Tayscar Hernandez, John Carlos Stanton, Jazz Chisum, Anthony Santandere, Matt Chapman, Cody Bellinger, Xander Bogarts, Vinnie Pascantito, Nolan Areronado. All guys who had similar production, but Ward was better as a hitter over the past four seasons than all of those guys. And I think those are almost all guys that we’d be very happy if the Orioles added any of them to their starting lineup right now. And I think you should feel the same about Taylor Ward. And there is some good data that backs up his production. had a 13.7% bail rate this season. One of the better numbers in the league. It’s the best of his career. Goes along with a high squared up percentage, which means he’s making the most of the contact he does make. And it is pretty low bat speed. You know, it doesn’t go along with an Orioles team that has really high bat speed. But maybe that’s okay. If you know how to use your lower bat speed, you can still be a good hitter. And that is what Taylor Ward has done when you’re making quality contact for the past four years. And if not for a freak play in 2023 where he ran awkwardly into the Crawford boxes wall in Houston that kind of cut up his face. He had a laceration there and he missed a bunch of time. It would basically be four consecutive years of of Taylor Ward being a healthy everyday player for the Angels. Like you can really count on him to be in the lineup. He was a former first round pick in 2015 out of Fresno State. He debuted with the Angels in 2018 and he kind of bounced up and down 2018 40 games, 2019 20 games, 2020 34 games. Then he played 65 games in 2021, had a 110 WRC plus started to settle in and then truly became an everyday player in 2022 for the Angels and that’s when he had his career season. He hit .281, 23 homers, had a 136 WRC plus. He was a four- win player. He hasn’t been back up to that level in the previous three years, but he’s still been a certified good hitter who’s been out there besides the laceration pretty much every day. And that is certainly something that you are looking for in this Orioles lineup. Power production, right-handed hitter stays healthy. O didn’t have a lot of any of that in 2025. Defensively, you know, it’s kind of up and down for Taylor Ward. He definitely can’t play center, but he played 153 games in left field for the Angels this year. his arms pretty weak, but it was a zero outs above average. So, he basically graded out as an average defender this season, but he was plus four in 2024 and plus two in 2023. So, generally in his career, he’s been a plus defender. I think at worst, he’s average out there in left field. And even though the arm isn’t very good, you can make up for that arm with the fact that Leota, Colton Cowser, and Tyler O’Neal, all on the team, all have absolute cannons for arms in the outfield. So, you’re generally going to be playing two other guys with good arms, even if Ward has a weak one out there in left field. And he really does hit lefties well, which is helpful. The Orioles were 20th in Major League Baseball as an offense against left-handed pitching last year. Taylor Ward had a 149 WRC plus against lefties. It’s a 128 for his career. He was the 24th best hitter and better than any oral against left-handed pitching in 2025. That is going to be helpful. He’s going to be there for you every day. He’ll be hitting home runs. He plays a corner outfield, batting somewhere between probably fourth and sixth in the Orioles lineup. And there will be cold stretches, right? He didn’t hit for as much average last year. He posted just a 228 batting average. That was his lowest since 2019. You know, it was as high as 281 in 2022, but he still produced well because the power went so up, right? He jumped from 25 homers in in 2024 to 36 of them this season. So, he made up for it with the power. Maybe the Orioles are okay with him sacrificing going back down to like 28 homers. If you can get a little batting average back and cut down the strikeouts a little bit as well. That’s certainly something that he’s shown he can do before in his career. But, you know, he got off to a slow start last season. He a 65 WRC plus in April. After that, he was at least above average and sometimes really good in every other month. He had a 128 WRC plus after May 1st. That was better than Gunnar Henderson had in that stretch. Remember, Gunnar’s whole thing with his season was a slow April and then he turned it on and Ward was still better. Taylor Ward checks your box as a steady veteran presence, hits for power, right-handed hitter, fills a hole in the roster. He’s in the lineup every day. That is the kind of player the Orioles were looking to add to their lineup this off season and they did it, which is great. The big giant elephant in the room is that just they gave up Grayson Rodriguez to do it. So, what is the fallout on this roster, on the off season, on the future of the Orioles with this trade? We’ll talk about that to finish off the show coming up next. So, Grayson Rodriguez for Taylor Ward. What a day and what a trade. And what is next for the Orioles? Let’s start with the pitching. How much does this change this off season for the O’s? I think the Orioles were going to be pursuing two starting pitchers, one topline guy, one mid-rotation guy. No matter what the status of Grayson was, whether he was healthy, whether he was a reliever, a starter, he was hurt again, he was on another team. I don’t think it matters. The Orioles either way need a need two starters. And you heard that again, that Elias quote from last week at the GM meetings. They they were not counting on Grace Rodriguez being a healthy part of their rotation in 2026. So, I think the Orioles were operating this off season as if they weren’t going to have Grayson as a starter, which is smart. From what we’ve seen the last two years, you can’t count on him to be a healthy starter, even if he were still here. And maybe Grayson could have, you know, on a lower workload been a good reliever for the Orioles next season. That was certainly possible, but he hasn’t pitched since July of 24. Did you really expect, like, think about it, did you really expect Grayson Rodriguez to be any kind of impact starting pitcher for the 2026 Baltimore Orioles? If you’re paying attention at all, the answer is no. So, I really don’t think this trade changes a lot about the Orioles pursuit for starting pitching, especially for 2026. They’re still playing at the top of the free agent market. They’re still exploring trades, you know, whether it’s Dylan CE or promaldez, Michael King, Emi from MPB among the free agents. They’re trying to work deals for Saniel Contra or Pablo Lopez or Joe Ryan among the trade candidates. They’re going to get hopefully two impact starting pitchers and spend some money. I think that the impact of the rotation is felt more long-term, right? Even with the injuries, you have to think eventually like in the 2027 to 2029 range before he hits free agency that Grayson would be back in this rotation. So, who’s going to be there to replace him? You know, is it someone you sign to a long-term deal like a Dylan Cease this year? Is it someone like Trey Gibson in Triple A continuing to pop and being just as good, you know, now that he’s a top 100 prospect as Grayson would have been? That is the big question for pitching. But for 2026, I don’t think this really impacts the Orioles. And I don’t think it really impacts their offseason plans, which are already going to be adding pitching because they were going to do it either way because they just, as is understandable, couldn’t count on Grayson being a part of this team in really any meaningful way next year. And that’s also one of the reasons why they felt, I would guess, okay, to trade him at this point. Now, the bigger impact, I think, on the offseason plans is on the hitting side because Taylor Ward, I guess you could argue, kind of profile similar when healthy to a hitter like Tyler O’Neal. You know, kind of a mashing power right-handed hitting outfield bat in the corner who’s, you know, okay on defense. But Taylor Ward’s been a much more consistent player and they are in different stratospheres when it comes to their health. Like Ward again has played 156 and 157 games the last two years. I think if Tyler O’Neal played 156 games, I would think I were in a dream and no longer in reality. Or if Tyler O’Neal played that many games, I’d think I was in a reality. So, they’re a little different there. And I think most teams at this point would take Taylor Ward over Tyler O’Neal if given the choice of both. I think the Orioles would as well. They upgraded right there. And the five outfielders now on the roster, Colton Cowzer, Leody, Dylan Beavers, Tyler O’Neal, and Taylor Ward, they could all coexist, right? If all five are healthy, you’ve got Ward in left field. You got Cowser in center who I think has proven he can play the position if he can stay on the field. And you know, you’ve got a mix of Beavers in right field with O’Neal dhing and Leo Tiveres as kind of your fifth outfielder, defensive replacement, pinch runner off the bench. But you truly got to factor in Tyler O’Neal missing at least what I mean at least 30 to 40 games and potentially more. You hope he can play more than the 54 games he played last year. But if you get a hundred games from Tyler O’Neal, you maybe feel good. So for those 60 you don’t have him. You now have Taylor Ward to fill in there. And it’s like having Raone Lauraniano to fill in there last year was great. This has been a more consistently good player in Taylor Ward than Raone Lauraniano has ever been as a hitter. And maybe they could still try to dump Tyler O’Neal’s contract. It’s always a possibility at this point. Like anything’s a possibility for the Orioles after making this trade. You know, maybe paying off his contract, giving up a prospect would get him to the Royals for a guy like Chris Bubich, who’s about to be a free agent and is on the trade block and shows some good signs as a left-handed starting pitcher. The Royals need impact bats in their outfield. If O’Neal stayed healthy, he could really help the Kansas City Royals. You know, maybe this makes it easier to include someone like Dylan Beavers in a trade to get another starting pitcher. That’s possible as well because you now have Taylor Ward. The other questions really is, are they still in on a big hitter, right? The plan is to talk about this a little bit more on tomorrow’s episode, but I I don’t think they’re signing another outfielder. Like they were never going to sign Kyle Tucker, but I thought a guy like Harrison Bader, especially because he plays center field, hits righty, was such a perfect fit for this roster. But now when you get Ward, like unless you’re making another move and then bringing in Bader, I’m not really sure they’re going to be in on someone like Harrison Bader anymore. And maybe they thought there were just better outfield options on the trademark. maybe they thought were never getting Kyle Tucker and the price was just going so high for Harrison Bader because of how good he was last year that the O’s weren’t going to be able to get him and they pivoted to the trade market and looked at someone like Taylor Ward. Now, I still wouldn’t rule them out for like a power hitting first base DHP Pete Alonzo type player that would maybe require trading Kobe Mayo for some pitching. But if they just go into into spring training with this offense set, right, you’ve got Adley behind the plate, Bisio’s your DH, Mayo at first base, Holiday second base, Henderson shortstop, Westber at third, Warden left field, Cowser in center, and the Beavers O’Neal combination in right field with your bench being some sort of Leodyis Jeremiah Jackson, Alex Jackson combination. Like, I think that’s a good offense that they’ve put together. Now, you’re counting on some subset of Kobe Mayo, Dylan Beavers, and Sam Oasis giving you something over the long haul for 2026. And I think it’s not smart to count on all of them, but it’s okay to count on one to two of them really giving you something next year. I mean, Beavers has already showed it. Mayo caught on, and we know Bayio is the best hitter of the three. So, I think that’s okay to rely on some of them giving you something next year. And Taylor Ward, he just makes your offense better. But what I really think this shows in a whole is that the Orioles are willing to be aggressive and be creative, right? And maybe this maybe this was a one-off. Maybe there were so many issues with the medicals and potentially other things between the Orioles and Grayson Rodriguez. They just just a one-off. Yes, they were targeting Taylor Ward. Yes, they wanted Taylor Ward, but it was just as much about just moving on from Grayson and getting as much as they could. That’s totally possible. One thing is clear, the Orioles want to win in 2026. This trade will be graded in how good and more importantly how healthy Grace Rodriguez is for the Angels. Can he stay on the field? Can he finally pitch a full season and live up to his potential if he never does and Taylor Ward is really good and makes the Orioles offense a lot better in 2026? The O’s could even win this trade, right? But I think there’s even more to just the long-term value because they could be sacrificing a lot of long-term value. something Michaelas has rarely done and something I don’t think Mike Elias wanted to do which is what makes me think there’s more going on than just like ah we wanted to get better next year and Grayson’s health worries us but I think this move makes the 2026 Orioles better and right now we’ve done so much focusing on the future and last year went so poorly the O’s have to be focused on turning this around in 2026 we have no idea if they would have even gotten any innings from Grayson Rodriguez you can feel confident you’re going to get 150 games of productive hitting from Taylor Ward and good against lefties. That’s something that makes next year’s Orioles team better. Full stop. What the long term looks like. Again, that’s going to tell us what we really think about this trade. But I wouldn’t rule out any other move for the rest of this offseason. Right? This was aggressive. This was somewhat creative. This was out of left field. This was kind of bizarre. It puts on the table a lot of other things for the Orioles. Big time pitching, big time hitting, weird trades, whatever it may be. But you know, Mike Elias, he traded Dylan Bundy, he traded DL Hall. And those turned out to be moves at the right time. Maybe it’s going to be true here for Grayson Rodriguez. But before we judge this, the O’s have got to keep going, keep spending, keep adding to the team. This is, you know, you could say the the Andrew Kitridge trade. That was a helpful move. But this is the first big move the Orioles have made this off seasonason. The big thing is it can’t be the last one. If this is the only impact move they make, it’s a failure of an offseason. But if the Orioles go out there and add a, you know, a topline starter, add a mid-rotation starter, and add, you know, a closer and maybe even one other good reliever, and this is the one hitting addition they make, the Orioles a got better for 2026. And I I would call that a successful off seasonason for the Baltimore Orioles, even with the weirdness of this trade and dealing away Grayson Rodriguez. Wow. So, I wish Grayson all the best. Obviously, this looks better for the Orioles if he’s never healthy again, but I don’t want that for Grayson Rodriguez. He gave some awesome moments to the Orioles and the fans. Awesome moments. I want him to find health and find success. Are the Angels the best place to do that for a pitcher? History would say probably not. And maybe it takes him until he gets to free agency and figures out the health stuff and becomes a different pitcher as a veteran to truly figure it out. And maybe that could be back in Baltimore, maybe under a different GM. Who knows? I wish him the absolute best, but right now we got to move on to how does Taylor Ward help this team? And then what do the Orioles do in pitching next? Because it’s about sequencing, right? Yeah, this move is weird now, but if they add a bunch more pitching for the rest of the offseason, it’s going to look at least a little less bizarre by the time we get to spring training. So, don’t let up. Go get some more arms. Whatever you can do to get this team back to the postseason in 2026 is the right move. I don’t know if this was the right trade, but I think the 2026 Orioles are better. Beyond that, I throw my hands up. This is not one I saw coming. So, we will see. We’ll have plenty more coverage on this trade moving forward. Probably do an episode either tomorrow or Friday kind of talking about would the Orioles still be able to go and get a big time bat, right? We’ll definitely talk more about Taylor Ward, how he fits in the Grace Rodriguez move. This is not going to be the last time we talk about this, but that was your full recap. If you enjoyed it, make sure to like, comment, and subscribe to the Lockdown Orioles YouTube channel. Make sure to follow the show, subscribe to the show wherever you listen, Apple Podcast and Spotify. If you could leave a fivestar rating and a review, it really helps the show. And if you want to, you know, know more about the Orioles, you want to ask a mailbag question, talk some ball, you have feedback for the podcast itself, whatever it may be, you can always email me locked on orgmail.com. Again, as I mentioned, we had an earlier episode today, right? There was an episode earlier this morning. Make sure to check that out. talked about Reed Trimble and Cameron Foster getting added to the Orioles 40man roster and protected from the rule five draft. That was what I had already had recorded when this news broke on Tuesday. So, obviously getting you an extra bonus Wednesday episode here. Make sure to check that one out. And I’ve talked about we’re kind of toying with the audio on the show right now, getting some more equipment, better equipment. So, just bear with me for the next week or so as we figure that out. And hopefully you’re still enjoying the show, enjoying the coverage here is who knows what crazy move to be could be next, but you know, I’ll have it covered right here on the show. We’ll be back tomorrow. Until then, I’m Connor Nukem and this has been the Locked On or podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network. Your team every day.

The Baltimore Orioles have made one of their most stunning trades in recent memory, sending Grayson Rodriguez to the Los Angeles Angels for Grayson Rodriguez. Host Connor Newcomb breaks down the trade from every angle and discusses why they would move Grayson now, Ward’s fit in Baltimore, and what this means for the rest of the offseason.

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