Perhaps the most telling remark in Mike Elias’ Friday night news conference centered on the difference in club control between starting pitcher Grayson Rodriguez and outfielder Taylor Ward.
The Los Angeles Angels could have four years of control over the 26-year-old Rodriguez while the 31-year-old Ward will be a free agent after the 2026 season.
“Look, I think we’re certainly aware in the mismatch in the amount of potential team control remaining on these two guys,” said Elias, the Orioles’ president of baseball operations.
“Ward is going into his free-agent year. He also has the potentiality to generate a qualifying offer. I think if he does what he did in 2025, that’s a real possibility, so that could change that equation a little bit.”
Elias is playing for 2026. After two years of postseasons, the Orioles’ disappointing 87-loss 2025 can’t be repeated.
“He’s actually somebody that we’ve been chasing for at least for a couple years, just because of the profile, the big right-handed power,” Elias said about Ward. “He hit 36 homers last year, he had 100 RBI, and that’s a middle-of-the-order bat.
“He’s great against left-handed pitching, but we also think he’s good against right-handed pitching and he’s an everyday guy. I mean that in the sense of in the batter’s box, but also he played 156 games in left field two years in a row, so there’s a lot there and I think it brings a lot of stability to our outfield picture. I think it’s going to hopefully make the rest of the lineup better.”
Elias wasn’t going to air skepticism about Rodriguez’s availability for 2026, or any frustration either side might have had.
“That’s not something I want to talk about directly,” he said. “I will say what I said publicly weeks ago, he’s missed well over a year, and there’s obvious ramifications from that. But like I said, this was a tough trade on both sides. There’s value given up in any trade, particularly in this one.”
If Elias was confident that Rodriguez would become the frontline starter the Orioles envisioned when he was the 11th player taken in the 2018 draft, he wouldn’t have been traded.
In 2024, Rodriguez started 20 times—none after July 31st, but the Orioles would have been reluctant to include him in a rotation with two other pitchers, Kyle Bradish and Tyler Wells, who combined to start 10 times since June 2024.
“I think that both of those guys will be able to increase their innings totals quite a bit next year; [Trevor] Rogers, too,” Elias said.
“He was hurt from the beginning of the year as well, but really Dean [Kremer] is the only guy from the returning group that had a full, huge innings load. Obviously, we’re working very hard to import some more people this winter that would help check that box but, yeah, it factors in. Workload management, especially for 2026, was a factor in the thinking.”
The most surprising development on Friday was the Orioles’ decision to tender both longtime first baseman Ryan Mountcastle and inconsistent right-handed reliever Yennier Cano.
Cano’s projected salary for 2026 is $1.8 million, and that shouldn’t preclude a trade. He also has two options remaining. Of the experienced relievers on the 40-man roster, only Cano, Yaramil Hiraldo, Kade Strowd and Grant Wolfram have options remaining.
Félix Bautista also has options, but he’s not likely to be a factor until late in the season—if then.
So do the less experienced Jose Espada and Chayce McDermott and new additions Cameron Foster and Anthony Nunez.
Mountcastle, with his $7.8 million estimated salary, would be more difficult to move, but the Orioles have the possibility of six right-handed and two switch-hitters among their projected 13 position players.
It’s too early in the offseason to project an Opening Day roster, but with Mountcastle, Ward, Coby Mayo, Tyler O’Neill, Jordan Westburg and utility player Jeremiah Jackson, the team should be less vulnerable against left-handers.
Switch-hitters Adley Rutschman and newcomer Leody Taveras could give the team a more balanced lineup in 2026.
“We’ll figure that out, and it’s a good problem to have,” Elias said. “And as we lived through last year, you have to worry about depth, too. This is something that will sort itself out. I think the main thing is we don’t want to discard a good hitter if we don’t have to, and we want to keep our talent, and these guys are all really promising bats.”
The acquisition of Ward isn’t likely to be the final move Elias makes to shore up the lineup, but it’s clear he thinks that Mountcastle, who played just 89 games and had a career-low .653 OPS, has value.
“I think so much of what happened in 2025, it was frustrating and disappointing and there were injuries in there, so it was really kind of microcosmic of what happened to a lot of the team,” Elias said. “And Ryan still showed flashes of his ability. We think he’s a great hitter and that’s why we tendered him and we’re bringing him back, and he’s a big part of our picture right now.”
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