The Orioles have released 29-year old righty swinging 2B Josh Barfield. Barfield played in 4 games in AAA-ball for the O’s this year and he was 0 for 8 (.000 avg, .111 OPS). He last played in the majors way back in 2009. Barfield has played in 309 games in his first four years in the majors and he is 267 of 1,013 (.264 avg, .671 OPS) with 133 runs scored, 16 homers, 112 RBIs and 35 stolen bases. The Orioles aren’t going to miss Barfield at all moving forward.

The Orioles have released 29-year old righty reliever Ross Wolf. Wolf pitched in 7 games (0 starts) in AA-ball for the O’s this year and he was 0-0 with 1 save, a 6.75 ERA and a 1.75 WHIP. He has pitched in 25 games (0 starts) in his first two years in the majors and he is 0-1 with a 7.92 ERA and a 1.80 WHIP. This is no loss for the Orioles.

The Orioles have released 25-year old lefty reliever/starter Nicholas Haughian at his request. Haughian pitched in 4 games (0 starts) in A-ball this year and he was 0-0 with a 18.00 ERA and a 2.33 WHIP. He pitched in 90 games (41 starts) in his five years in the minors for the Orioles and he was 20-17 with a 3.76 ERA and a 1.37 WHIP. This isn’t much of a loss for the Orioles as I doubt getting rid of Haughian will come back to haunt them in the future.

The Orioles have released 28-year old righty swinging catcher John Hester. Hester played in 10 games in AAA-ball for the O’s and he was 9 for 34 (.265, .813 OPS) with 7 runs scored, 1 homer and 1 RBI. He last played in the majors back in 2010 with the Diamondbacks. Hester has played in 53 games in two years in the majors and he is 27 of 123 (.220 avg, .660 OPS) with 13 runs scored, 3 homers, 11 RBIs and 1 stolen base. The Orioles are in good shape at catcher organizationally wise, so they shouldn’t miss Hester at all in 2012.

The Orioles have released 25-year old righty reliever/starter Wynn Pelzer. Pelzer came into this season as the O’s #28 prospect according to Baseball America. He pitched in 3 games (0 starts) in AA-ball this year and he was 0-2 with a 9.00 ERA and a 2.00 WHIP. He has now pitched in 129 games (79 starts) in his first five years in the minors and he is 32-33 with 1 save, a 3.92 ERA and a 1.43 WHIP. Some team will give Pelzer another chance this year, but the Orioles won’t likely miss him too much.