Reds escape brutal trade cost as Orioles wildly overpay for Angels slugger

Following a plethora of 40-man roster additions across Major League Baseball on Tuesday, the Baltimore Orioles pulled off a late-night stunner. In an effort to bolster their outfield, the O's traded starting pitcher Grayson Rodriguez to the Los Angeles Angels in exchange for outfielder Taylor Ward.

Ward is coming off a season in which he mashed 36 home runs for the Halos. An Ohio native, Ward was thought to have been on the Cincinnati Reds' radar this offseason. The Reds lacked any type of pop in 2025, with only Elly De La Cruz and Spencer Steer accounting for 20 or more homers, but Baltimore paid a steep price for Ward who'll be a free agent after next season.

Ward is in the final year of his arbitration window — something that would've been appealing to the Reds — and is expected to take home a hefty sum of $13.7 million in 2026. With the Angels in need of starting pitching and the Reds desperate for a power-hitting outfielder, the two organizations seemed like a perfect pair. Unfortunately for the Reds, they'll have to go back to the drawing board with Ward now off the market.

The Orioles grossly overpaid for Reds' trade target Taylor Ward

Ward's advanced metrics were all over the map last season. While the 31-year-old avoided chasing pitches outside the strike zone and posted a very respectable 11.3% walk rate, he also stuck out over 26% of the time and his expected batting average was among the worst in MLB at .234.

In order to entice the Angels to part with Ward, the Orioles gave up on one of their better starting pitchers. Though Rodriguez has dealt with his fair share of injuries in the past, the right-hander has shown tremendous potential. The 26-year-old is stil pre-arb eligible and under team control through 2029. If Rodriguez returns to form, this feels like a massive overpay on the part of the O's.

At the moment, the Reds are waffling between the notion of moving Steer back to left field in 2026 and finding a suitable replacement at first base, or securing an outfielder and leaving their Gold Glove finalist at the cold corner. Regardless of the direction they choose to go, Cincinnati needs to find a way to enhance their lineup heading into the 2026 season.

There are sure to be plenty of fresh faces hitting the open market in the coming days. Teams added their top prospects to the 40-man roster on Tuesday in order to protect them from the Rule 5 Draft, and Friday marks the non-tender deadline. While Ward may no longer be available, the Reds could soon see several new targets emerge once the rest of teams throughout MLB begin to purge their rosters.