The first Orioles trade of the deadline day has been done. It probably won’t be the last. ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported that the O’s are trading outfielder Taylor Ward to the Seattle Mariners. MLB Pipeline’s Jonathan Mayo reported that the return is a trio of pitchers: Alex Hoppe, a reliever who’s been in the majors this season, and two minor leaguers, Brock Moore and Harrison Kreiling.
Heading up to the deadline, Ward was probably the most obvious trade candidate on the Orioles roster. He is one of the team leaders in WAR and clearly has value this season thanks to his newly-found ability to take walks. However, he hasn’t done what the Orioles acquired him to do – hit home runs – and his defense has been a real drag. He was going to be a borderline candidate to give a qualifying offer to this offseason, so the benefit to holding onto him was less than it might have been otherwise.
That’s not to say that the Orioles got much out of trading Ward. These three players are, in brief:
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A reliever who had a 5.79 ERA in 24 MLB games this year (if you want to feel better, his FIP is 2.88)
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A 26-year-old reliever who has been stinking it up in Double-A
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A 24-year-old starting pitcher who was drafted in 2024, had Tommy John surgery early in 2025, and has never pitched above Low-A
None of them were ranked on the most recent incarnations of MLB Pipeline or FanGraphs prospect lists. FanGraphs did at least mention Moore under a “Walking In Reliever Wonderland” headline, writing that he “touches triple digits and his slider flashes plus, but he’s a stiff athlete with a big head whack and bigger control problems.”
You don’t need to be a baseball professional to recognize the command problems. Moore walked 28 batters in 18.2 innings last year, and at Double-A this year has walked 17 batters in 22.2 innings. That’s bad.
There is not going to be any replacing Ward’s .383 on-base percentage for the remainder of the season. His being traded does create the possibility of better outfield defensive alignments, if the Orioles either acquire a better defender or promote and give playing time to one.
I will be surprised if any of these players the Orioles have received are worth paying attention to one year from now, let alone creating value for the franchise three years or more down the road.
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