32-year old Ramon Hernandez is currently on the trading block but the Orioles would be smart to keep him. He missed a lot of last season due to injury and it affected his throwing as he only nailed 20% of the runners that tried to steal on him. Hernandez has a solid power bat as he knocked in 62 runs in only 106 games last season for the Orioles. Hernandez has hit a homer every 28.8 at bats over his major league career and he has knocked in a run every 6.5 at bats. That shows that he can be a very productive hitter when healthy. His backups are not nearly as skilled as he is. Guillermo Quiroz and Chris Heintz will battle for the backup job in Baltimore and neither of them is anything to get excited about. Quiroz has a career batting average of .220 (.545 OPS) and Chris Heintz has a career batting average of .232 (.535 OPS).

PROJECTED POSITION GRADE FOR 2008: With Hernandez B
Without Hernandez F