The Baltimore Orioles have claimed catcher Gustavo Molina off of waivers from the Chicago White Sox.  Molina is not much of a hitter as he has played in 10 games this season for the White Sox and he was 1 for 18 (.056 avg, .156 OPS) with 1 RBI.  Molina makes Paul Bako look like Ivan Rodriguez with the bat so don’t expect too much from him in the future.

Orioles’ closer Chris Ray will likely be placed on the disabled list with a bone spur in his right elbow.  This might explain why he has pitched so poorly this season as he is 5-6 with 16 saves, a 4.43 ERA and a 1.24 WHIP.  Still, the options to replace Ray are not pretty.  It’s possible that Paul Shuey, Danys Baez and lefty Jamie Walker will be splitting up the save opportunities.

The Orioles have demoted Garrett Olson to AAA.  He started 2 games for them this season and he was 1-0 with a 3.86 ERA and a 2.04 WHIP.  In 9.1 innings he allowed 11 hits, walked 8 batters and whiffed 8.  Replacing Olson in the rotation will be Steve Trachsel who will be coming off of the disabled list.  He has started 17 games this season for the Orioles and he is 5-6 with a 4.95 ERA and a 1.51 WHIP.  In 92.2 innings he has allowed 95 hits, walked 45 batters and whiffed 31.

The Orioles have placed Melvin Mora on the 15-day disabled list with a left mid-foot sprain.  Mora has played in 79 games this season and he is 79 for 298 (.265 avg, .787 OPS) with 46 runs scored, 12 homers, 41 RBIs and 7 stolen bases.  This will definately hurt the offense of the Orioles as Chris Gomez looks to be the new thirdbaseman for the time being.

Chris Ray, Daniel Cabrera, John Parrish and Danys Baez are all letting the Orioles down this season.  Ray has a good year last season as the O’s stopper but he’s been awful this season.  Ray is 4-6 with 14 saves and a 4.89 ERA.  Those are poor numbers for a stopper and if he doesn’t straighten out soon the Orioles might think about replacing him in that role.  He’s too talented to pitch as bad as he has this season.  Daniel Cabrera is the man with the Golden Arm….too bad he never knows where the baseball is going when it leaves his hand.  Cabrera is 6-10 with a 5.04 ERA and a 1.43 WHIP this season and he has allowed 17 homers which is way too many.  Cabrera has great stuff as evidenced by the fact that he has only allowed 112 hits in 121.1 innings this season……but he doesn’t know how to pitch.  Until he starts throwing more strikes (61 walks in 121.1 innings) he will never come close to realizing his potential.  John Parrish is coming off of serious injury issues in the past but like Cabrera….he can’t throw strikes.  Parrish has only allowed 30 hits in 34 innings this season but he has walked 28 batters and that just won’t get it done.  You can’t walk batters when coming out of the bullpen and be an effective pitcher….period.  Parrish is 2-0 with a 5.82 ERA and a 1.71 WHIP this season and he’s in danger of being converted into a mop up man.  Danys Baez is hurt right now but he has been pathetic this season for the Orioles.  Baez is 0-4 with a 6.52 ERA and a 1.48 WHIP this season.  If Baez doesn’t improve when he comes off of the DL he will also wind up being a mop up man.