On the evening of Tuesday the 18th of November, the Angels made their first significant deal of the MLB offseason by dealing Taylor Ward to the Baltimore Orioles for Grayson Rodriguez.
It comes a week after I wrote my article on the Angels’ potential trade options, in which I stated that Perry was almost certain to make a trade ahead of the Winter Meetings.
In that article, a lot of time was spent focused on the Angels’ corner outfield logjam of Jo Adell, Mike Trout, Jorge Soler, and Taylor Ward. It’s been the source of a lot of trade speculation this offseason, as the Angels had three names penciled in across four positions. Facing significant roster challenges in multiple spots, the Angels needed to utilize their outfield surplus to bring in a player who could fill a need.
My preferred option was to trade Soler to free up salary for a new pitcher or third baseman. However, I also recognized the logic of trading Taylor Ward, a reliable asset who holds more value for a contender than he does for the Angels.
What I failed to consider was a trade involving Ward that could both improve the team next year and cut payroll. That’s the option that the Angels went with, and it has delivered them a potential ace in Grayson Rodriguez, while also saving them around $10 million. This opens up a ton of opportunities this winter, especially as their biggest and potentially most expensive need is now filled.
What I also didn’t consider last week was how weak the corner outfield market was in free agency. Most of my time on FanGraphs’ free agency page has been spent looking at third baseman, center fielders, and pitchers, so I never really took notice of how few quality names are available this winter. For a team like Baltimore, who were never realistically going to be in the market for a name like Kyle Tucker or Cody Bellinger, trading for Taylor Ward was one of the best options they had. That’s why I believe on paper the Angels have received what appears to be an overpay for the expiring veteran.
Losing Taylor Ward is bittersweet. He had been in the Angels’ system for a decade, and had been a consistent force in the lineup for years. His overly patient approach and susceptibility to long cold stretches made him frustrating at times, but he has been the most dependable Angel in the Perry Minasian era. While it will be sad to see him go, trading him was absolutely the right move.
It’s now time to bring up what the Angels are getting back in Grayson Rodriguez, and why this is so exciting. First of all, let me get the biggest negative out of the way: Rodriguez hasn’t pitched since July 2024. He has missed plenty of time in his career so far with elbow inflammation, right shoulder inflammation, and right lat discomfort.
After a series of injuries dating back to 2022, Grayson Rodriguez may need to reconstruct his pitching motion to correct mechanical issues. Nevertheless, he is expected to be fully recovered and ready for Spring Training. As stated by Rodriguez, the hope is that the recurring injuries were caused by bone spurs in his elbow, which have since been surgically removed.
Another key factor that may favor the Angels is the addition of Mike Maddux, who has a history of keeping fragile pitchers on the mound. He achieved an impressive 172.2 innings from Jacob deGrom this season and previously revitalized Andrew Heaney's career. While it is unlikely the Orioles traded Rodriguez solely over health concerns, the inherent risk is obvious. Baltimore is focused on winning now, and as President of Baseball Operations Mike Elias indicated, they needed a pitcher they could rely on. The Orioles minimized their immediate risk by trading the high-upside, but uncertain, Rodriguez for a dependable, veteran presence.
When healthy, the Angels are getting a player with potential to be a front of the rotation ace. They are also getting a player who they will have team control of for four years.
Rodriguez was the 11th overall pick back in 2018, and spent most of his minor league career towards the top of most prospect rankings. He dominated the minor leagues with an ERA of 2.40, and boasted an outstanding four-pitch mix.
In the major leagues, Rodrguez showed massive potential in his two years. Of pitchers to throw 200+ innings across 2023 and 2024, Rodriguez ranked 29th in xFIP, 23rd in K/9 and 5th in Stuff+, behind a star-studded group of Tarik Skubal, Corbin Burnes, Hunter Greene, and Zack Wheeler.
The fact that he was able to put up those numbers while dealing with the impacts of various injuries is even more impressive, and leads one to wonder what a fully healthy Rodriguez is capable of should he reach his potential.
Rodriguez’s four seamer, slider, curveball, and changeup, all have great stuff, and he has been able to command those pitches with great location and low walk rates. Trading for Rodriguez was absolutely worth the risk given his talent. If the Angels can get one healthy season out of Rodriguez, then they’ll walk away from this trade as winners. If they get 400+ innings over these four years, then this has potential to be one of the best trades in franchise history.
One other small point that I also wanted to mention, is that the Angels now have Kikuchi under control for two years, plus Soriano, Detmers, and Rodriguez all under control for at least three years. It makes me wonder if this will lead to the Angels being aggressive with their many pitching prospects that they have in the minors.
If they consider the short term looked after, then they may decide to keep the high-upside names in Bremner and Klassen, and go out and see what they can get in return for prospects like Ryan Johnson, Caden Dana, Sam Aldegheri, Walbert Urena, and Chris Cortez. This especially makes sense if the Angels are feeling pressure to win in the last year of Perry Minasian’s contract.
Trading Johnson and Cortez to get back a name like Brendan Donovan makes the Angels a lot better over the next two years, and doesn’t leave the farm system short of arms. They would still have George Klassen and Tyler Bremner to look forward to, plus their horde of high-upside prep arms. Last week I wrote that a move like this would be realistic, and I only feel stronger about it now that the Angels have dealt for Rodriguez.
A dream offseason for the Angels would be trading for Brenan Donovan, expected to make $5.4 million next year, signing Bellinger for an AAV around $25 million, signing a veteran pitcher like Tyler Mahle, Aaron Civale or Merrill Kelly, and then putting whatever resources are left into the bullpen.
A roster like the below is now 100% possible without the Angels significantly increasing their payroll. This is a roster, who at the bare minimum could be above .500, and with leaps from names like Moore, O’Hoppe and Detmers, could reach the playoffs.
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