26-year old righty swinging 1B/OF Nolan Reimold played in 29 games for the Orioles earlier this year and he was 17 of 83 (.205 avg, .639 OPS) with 7 runs scored, 2 homers and 10 RBIs. He was then sent to AAA and he hasn’t being playing any better in the minors. Reimold has played in 52 games in AAA-ball this year and he is 39 of 190 (.205 avg, .611 OPS) with 21 runs scored, 6 homers and 19 RBIs. Despite a possible fire sale I don’t see the Orioles calling Reimold back to Baltimore until he starts to show something in the minors.

This was supposed to be 24-year old switch hitting catcher Matt Wieters’ breakout season for the Orioles but he has looked lost at the plate. Wieters has played in 60 games for the Orioles this year and he is 49 of 213 (.230 avg, .626 OPS) with 15 runs scored, 5 homers and 18 RBIs. This comes on the heels of a rookie season in which Wieters played in 96 games and he was 102 of 354 (.288 avg, .753 OPS) with 35 runs scored, 9 homers and 43 RBIs. The Orioles are going to stick with Wieters no matter how bad he plays but he really needs to start hitting as his defense isn’t quite good enough to make up for his poor bat so far.

26-year old lefty swinging RF Nick Markakis has seen a power outage so far this season for the Orioles. In his first four years of his major league career Markakis averaged 92.3 runs scored, 19.3 homers, 90.5 RBIs and 9 stolen bases. But this season he has played in 63 games so far and he is 70 of 240 (.292 avg, .802 OPS) with 24 runs scored, 3 homers, 21 RBIs and 1 stolen base. He is healthy so maybe it’s all of the losing or a lack of help in the lineup. Regardless of what the problem is the O’s need Markakis to start hitting for power and knocking in some runs.

The Orioles valued 30-year old switch hitting shortstop Cesar Izturis for his defensive abilities when they signed him as a free agent in the winter of 2008. But times have changed as Izturis is off to a slow start and the Orioles need a offensive boost. With that in mind I think they should make the switch to Julio Lugo as the starting shortstop for a while. Izturis has played in 28 games for the O’s this season and he is 19 of 84 (.226 avg, .520 OPS) with 9 runs scored, 5 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. Julio Lugo has been hitting the ball better as of late and he is easily a better hitter than Izturis based on his career work to date. Lugo has played in 20 games for the Orioles this season and he is 11 of 45 (.244 avg, .536 OPS) with 3 runs scored, 1 RBI and 2 stolen bases. He has the potential to be a productive leadoff hitter for the Orioles which they have lacked since Brian Roberts went down to injury.

The Orioles really like LF Nolan Reimold but they are trying to protect him also because of a Achilles problem. Still, he is off to a slow start this season for the O’s. Reimold has played in 7 games for the Orioles so far this season and he is 3 for 19 (.158 avg, .641 OPS) with 2 runs scored, 1 homer and 2 RBIs. Reimold needs to start hitting soon or they might shut him down if his Achilles continues to hinder him.