The Offseason Monitor: November 19

Grayson Rodriguez traded and probably fake news in Pittsburgh

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In the IT world, there are things called “process monitors”. SQL Server Management Studio has one of those, where you can see what automated processes are running, how much memory they’re consuming, how far along they are, etc. That was the idea behind this title. I had this branding idea of making all of my routine posts fit under a data theme. But I haven’t expanded that beyond this one, and I probably won’t. Don’t want to be too predictable, you know?

I dream of living in a world where millions of people anxiously await my reaction to mundane baseball news. I think we’ll get there in just a few weeks. But for now, it’s probably only a few hundred of you with any actual interest in what I’m about to say. But one is enough for me. I have this mechanical keyboard, and I love to type. It’s 7:48am, I have a cold brew coffee, I’m sitting in my basement alone, it’s quiet. It’s the perfect situation.

Grayson Rodriguez for Taylor Ward

The timing on this was impeccable. My next two team previews to publish are the Angels and the Orioles.

It’s no surprise that the Angels traded Taylor Ward. He has one year left on his contract, and the Angels are in no place to be extending a 32-year-old outfielder not named Mike Trout.

But getting Grayson Rodriguez for him was a pretty shock to the system. This news came out at like 10pm on a Tuesday night, by the way. You’d think they’d just get their transactions done during business hours during the offseason. We aren’t playing games right now, guys. It’s not that big of a deal; the trade can wait until tomorrow. I wonder what percentage of professional sports general managers have solid marriages.

Grayson Rodriguez is a big name. Former top prospect in baseball, has thrown plenty of gems. A tantalizing arm. A guy whom most held as a future ace.

This trade is bad news for the guy. Not that anything is changing for him, but it clearly shows a lack of confidence in his health from the organization that knows the most about his health.

Sidebar, this Grammarly thing can really piss me off. It’s so harsh.

Give me a break, I’m writing in a conversation style.

I suppose the organizations have to disclose medical stuff to the other team when they’re doing trades. Is that a rule? Let’s look into it. I know a lot of websites are using AI to write their news blurbs. I will never do that. Not because of some principled stand as much as the fact that it’s not worth it. I don’t make my money off ads. So the volume of content isn’t nearly as important to me. You’re all here just because of my winning personality and wit, my Jonny Witt Jr. if you will. Obviously that’s why you’re here, obviously. I just use AI as a bulked-up search engine. So let’s do that.

So yeah, by rule the Orioles can’t know that Rodriguez literally does not have an elbow anymore and then finalize a trade to the Angels without telling them that. Interestingly, they didn’t have to tell them that he was elbowless in the original discussions. It could be a situation where the Angels just go so into the idea of adding a potential ace in G-Rod for a player they don’t even want anymore that the excitement overwhelmed their better judgment. So when the Orioles went to offer the finalization paperwork and were like “by the way, the last X-ray showed that Rodriguez does not have his elbow anymore, we’re not sure where it went”, the Angels might have just signed it anyway, cause in their minds it was a done deal.

The Orioles have a decent lineup. They don’t have any sure things in the outfield, but they had a non-awful outfield on paper before the trade. Now it looks like this:

• Colton Cowser

• Taylor Ward

• Dylan Beavers

• Jeremiah Jackson

• Leody Taveras

• Heston Kjerstad

• Enrique Bradfield Jr.

• Nate George

Nate George, big MLB DW guy!

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Ward blocks a few of these guys. He probably even reduces our hero Dylan Beavers’ playing time outlook. And that’s not something I’m happy about. Tim had talked me into drafting Dylan Beavers on every single team this year. I was considering even buying apparel. I suppose he’s fine for now. The Cowser, Ward, and Beavers outfield seems right to me. But another cook in the kitchen!

The point is that the Orioles’ weakness is clearly in the rotation. If they were really thinking that Rodriguez could hold up in their rotation in the near future, there’s just no chance they make this trade. It makes no sense.

Then again, they don’t have a GM, and they don’t want one.

Is it possible that Mike Elias’ 17-year-old nephew made this trade? Is Elias on a beach somewhere and just keeping it in the family? Probably not. But now that I’ve said it, it’s possible.

If I were an Angels fan, the initial notification about the trade would have gotten me going a bit. That’s a big name, and it fits a need they desperately need. I don’t think too many Angels bro’s are upset that Taylor Ward won’t be on the team anymore, and in your mind, you think you’ve just gotten a multi-year ace. I just doubt that G-Rod will ever realize that potential.

Grayson Rodriguez Injury Rundown from Chat GPT

But they will try it. The latest report was that Rodriguez should be ready for a normal spring. He missed the entire 2025 season, but he’s had plenty of time to recover. I do think you’ll see him starting Opening Day for the Angels. And Opening Day is the best day of the year. So if you’re an Angels fan, you have a good chance of receiving increased enjoyment on that best day of the year. But beyond that, I wouldn’t have my hopes up.

Grayson Rodriguez - future Angels closer.

Pirates

Speaking of false excitement, man. I was put through the ringer yesterday. Jeff Passan was talking about the Pirates being “in on” Kyle Schwarber and having “been ready” to offer Josh Naylor almost $80 million. And then they even said they are, listen to this, “strongly considering” giving Konnor Griffin “the opportunity to win their Opening Day shortstop job”. CONSIDERING giving an OPPORTUNITY. That’s only two degrees removed from actually doing something cool. And we’re usually like five degrees away; these are major improvements.

It’s always a bummer when you have a tweet go big but there’s a typo in it. People don’t seem to care, and in this case, the joke was so good it overpowered the typo. But a missed opportunity for sure. You’re almost pointing at yourself and being like “hey, look, I don’t know how to spell and/or type and/or proofread a seven-word thing”. But yeah, great tweet. Elite stuff.

Honestly, these satirical fake images are way funnier when they’re done in a sloppy way like that. You could easily have gone to the AI bot with a real picture and told it to make that picture look real. But somehow, it’s better and funnier when you just clearly fake it like that. Good stuff to whoever made it.

I put at least one foot back into my Pirates fan pants yesterday. That’s really all it takes. It’s almost surely false hope. It’s one thing to say you’re in on the big free agents and another thing to actually be. We don’t even know if they’re serious or just doing this for appearances. But even if they are serious, that doesn’t mean they’ll be able to get anything done. They might have been willing to give Josh Naylor $80 million, great, but guess what, the Mariners were willing to give him $92 million. The Pirates could be willing to give “fair” deals now, but other teams are willing to give “unfair” deals. Whoever lands Schwarber is going to “overpay” for him. It’s not going to be the Pirates.

It’s going to be the Phillies, by the way. I saw an interview with Schwarber after the Phillies got knocked out of the playoffs, and I did some advanced high-tech facial expression study. I’m an expert because I watched that LIE TO ME show 12 years ago. And I could tell in his eyes that he wants to be a Philly for life. He’ll take their best offer.

But I do believe the Pirates are ready for their most expensive free agent period in my lifetime. That isn’t saying much, but I believe it. It won’t be Tucker or Schwarber or Alonso, but maybe it could be Eugenio Suarez or Jorge Polanco?

Or maybe they take the trade route. Jarren Duran and Wilyer Abreu are available, and I think we’ll see one of them traded soon. Maybe a Mitch Keller + prospect package situation for one of them? That doesn’t make as much sense with the Red Sox, they don’t need a mediocre pitcher as much as other organizations do, but that’s a realistic option for the Pirates to explore.

Or maybe they don’t give up Keller in a trade like that. Maybe, for once, they find themself on the other side of a salary dump trade. They take on some salary on a good player for a weak prospect package because the other team needs to make some cuts.

This isn’t a Pirates blog; I’m saying too much.

Goodness gracious I’ve been writing this post for 35 minutes. I thought this would be a ten minute situation. That’s crazy. I’m done.