The Baltimore Orioles traded starting pitcher Grayson Rodriguez to the Los Angeles Angels for outfielder Taylor Ward.
Rodriguez, a former first-round pick, missed all of last season with injuries but has four years of team control remaining.
Ward is coming off a career-high 36 home runs for the Angels and is in the final year of his contract.
The first major trade of the Hot Stove season came with little warning Tuesday night as the Baltimore Orioles and Los Angeles Angels made a classic 1-for-1 swap.
The Orioles sent starting pitcher Grayson Rodriguez to the Angels for outfielder Taylor Ward in a deal that hints of additional moves to come.
Rodriguez, 26, is a former first-round draft pick, taken 11th overall in 2018. However, he missed all of last season with several different injuries, and he hasn’t appeared in a major league game since July 31, 2024.
Ward, 31, was also a first-rounder (26th overall in 2015) who hit a career-high 36 home runs last season for the Angels.
How did the two teams do in the deal? Here’s our instant analysis.
Baltimore Orioles trade grade: C
Rodriguez has been a solid pitcher during his two seasons in the Orioles rotation, and he was showing signs of a breakout in 2024 before he was shut down in August.
That season, he was 13-4 with a 3.86 ERA in 20 starts — with 130 strikeouts in 116 2/3 innings.
However, the injuries have persisted with a lat injury, followed by a bone spur in his elbow. With the Orioles looking to return to the playoffs after missing out this past season, Rodriguez’s injury history — and possibly his prospects of returning to full health — apparently made him too much of a risk for the Orioles front office to take.
However, trading away Rodriguez when the team’s greatest offseason need is to upgrade its starting pitching is a head-scratcher. It only makes sense if Baltimore can add one (or maybe two) established starters in free agency or via another trade.
In Ward, the O’s get an established right-handed power hitter coming off the best season of his career. He appeared in a career-high 157 games, posting a .228/.317/.475 slash line. His 36 homers more than doubled the Orioles’ team leaders in that category last season. However, he’s in the last year of arbitration and can become a free agent at the end of the season.
The Orioles will likely have Colton Cowser as their full-time center fielder, with Ward in left and a mix of Tyler O’Neill, Dylan Beavers and Heston Kjerstad battling for the job in right. They also signed veteran Leody Taveras earlier this month as a free agent.
Los Angeles Angels trade grade: B+
The Angels are clearly in the rebuilding process after finishing last in the AL West with a record of 72-90. And there are plenty of holes on the roster.
Rodriguez could fill one of the most important ones — staff ace — if he can stay healthy. Plus, at age 26, he still has four more years of team control and won’t be eligible for free agency until after the 2029 season.
With Ward in his final season before free agency and due around $13.7 million in arbitration, the Angels turned his career year into a lottery ticket that could pay major dividends well into the future.
Trading Ward also allows the Angels to deal from a position of strength and address an area of need.
They finished fourth in the majors in 2025 with 226 home runs. Only the Yankees, Dodgers and Mariners had more. Meanwhile, their 4.89 team ERA was the worst in the American League and third-worst overall behind the Rockies and Nationals.
And they still have Mike Trout, Jo Adell and Jorge Soler to fill the corner outfield and DH slots.
The Orioles said they expected Rodriguez to be ready for the start of spring training. If that’s the case, he’ll likely slot in as either the Angels’ No. 1 or No. 2 starter to begin the regular season under first-year manager Kurt Suzuki.
Potential Angels starting rotation
LHP Yusei Kikuchi
RHP Grayson Rodriguez
RHP Jose Soriano
LHP Reid Detmers
RHP Caden Dana
