Trade of Grayson Rodriguez for Taylor Ward could trigger start of an active Orioles winter

In the first major move of what might be a transformative offseason, the Orioles surprised baseball by trading Grayson Rodriguez, their often-injured 26-year-old right-hander, to the Los Angeles Angels for outfielder Taylor Ward.

Rodriguez threw his last regular-season pitch for the Orioles on July 31^st, 2024 and missed 2025 with a variety of injuries. He ended his season with surgery to remove bone chips from his right elbow.

His departure seems to signal that the Orioles will be aggressive to acquire starting pitching, an area of need that was already their aim.

Without Rodriguez, the Orioles have two starters — right-handers Kyle Bradish and Tyler Wells — who had right elbow surgeries in June 2024 and combined to pitch 10 late-season games in 2025. They also have left-hander Trevor Rogers, who had a sparkling 1.81 ERA in 18 starts, and dependable right-hander Dean Kremer.

The Orioles still have left-hander Cade Povich and right-hander Brandon Young as depth pieces but need to acquire two quality starters.

In acquiring the 31-year-old Ward, the Orioles appear to be relying less on Tyler O’Neill, their biggest free-agent acquisition last offseason. O’Neill, who has two years remaining on a three-year, $49.5 million contract, was on the injured list three times last season and played in just 54 games.

Ward played in 157 games for the Angels last season, which is appealing to the Orioles. He hit 36 home runs with 103 RBIs and hit .228 with a .792 OPS. Ward also struck out 175 times. Against left-handed pitching, his OPS was .918 — ninth-best among outfielders — compared to the .661 mark the Orioles amassed as a team in 2025.

He has one year remaining before free agency and an estimated $13.7 million salary in 2026.

Though Ward has played right field, his only outfield position for the last three seasons has been left field.

It’s possible the Orioles will have a regular outfield of Ward in left, Colton Cowser in center and rookie Dylan Beavers in right.

Besides O’Neill, the Orioles also have switch-hitting Leody Taveras, whom they signed as a free agent earlier this month, and Heston Kjerstad, the former No. 2 overall draft pick who missed the last two months of Triple-A Norfolk’s season because of illness. Utility player Jeremiah Jackson, who played some right field in the last two months, is also on the 40-man roster.

On Tuesday, the Orioles added outfielder Reed Trimble to the 40-man roster. Trimble has 61 stolen bases in the minor leagues without being caught.

President of baseball operations Mike Elias will likely make several moves in the coming weeks, but this one was utterly unexpected.

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