Mike Elias rarely does what he should as custodian of the Orioles baseball operations department. Hence an eight-year rebuild that is going nowhere.
And now he wants you to believe he’s going to be a buyer with one of the worst rosters in MLB that has deep flaws and with a middling farm system to utilize to secure proven talent. Well, we know how that’s gone in the past even when Elias was overloaded with top 100 prospects. And even he can’t be naïve enough to think, if he does try to address some of the many areas of his roster than need tending, that he still wouldn’t have to move a few pieces to create more opportunities for youngsters.
Don’t worry about what Mikey says out loud when he’s trying to help sell tickets. His super computers tell him just how little chance this team has to do anything in October.
Not cashing in one some pending free agents, even if he wants to misguidedly cling to guys like Adley Rutschman who have another year of control, would be ridiculous even by his deadline standards. And there is one player who stands out most among all the rest, and who has been productive enough to fetch some value in return, but also not providing what he was acquired to provide, who is screaming out to be moved.
(And, yes, there are several bullpen pieces who seem fairly certain to go as well no matter what the Orioles do in the standings between now and the deadline, but there aren’t nearly as many qualified candidates on the roster or in the system to replace them, so that’s why Rico Garcia and Yennier Cano and Andrew Kittredge aren’t in this spot, but their starting leftfielder is).
Landing one-year of Ward’s service time in exchange for whatever was left of Grayson Rodriguez’s arm and shoulder wasn’t much of a gamble (given what’s become of Rodriguez). It was a stopgap until more Orioles outfielders were ready for a looksee, and Dylan Beavers absolutely must play close to everyday in the second half and Enrique Bradfield Jr should get a look for his speed and defense, too ,
They are probably stuck with Tyler O’Neill’s horrible contract and will be prideful and too cheap to eat enough of it to get him elsewhere. And Ward, like so any right-handed sluggers since Elias started butchering Camden Yards in 2022 is of little consequence to this team because they still play half their games there.
The large left field is a problem for a barely serviceable fielder, and no one got him praying he would walk 12% of the time and be a leadoff guy (who also isn’t very speedy and doesn’t help generate runs in that aspect). He has one homer and 10 RBIs at home this season and a .282 SLG, despite being second on the team with 240 PA there; one behind Gunnar Henderson for the team lead.
He was a target because of the 35 homer and 100 RBI power; not in hopes he would walk his way on base every at bat, and the OBS has of course started to regress from its league-leading run to open the season. Bottom line: this dude has six homers and 25 RBIs all season, but is getting on base 39% of the time.
Other teams know there must still be power in his bat and they also know Orioles player development at the MLB is beyond terrible and they can wreck anyone (even Henderson!). His profile, with the cheap contract and as a rental and with the ability to hit at the top of the lineup and get on base, will bring value. Other ballparks and other coaching staffs will work far more in his favor.
He isn’t being listed so prominently on the most-likely-to-be traded lists as he is for no reason – though it’s laughable how some of those exercises pretend Rutschman shouldn’t be right behind him). But Elias has no emotional attachment to Ward being a central cog here, he never intended to extend him, and with the way Ward’s season is going and the Orioles season is going, he needs to be off this roster in the next few weeks.
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