The Baltimore Orioles have declined an option for the 2010 season on back up catcher Chad Moeller. The 34-year old righty swinging Chad Moeller played in 30 games for the Orioles last season and he was 23 for 89 (.258 avg, .751 OPS) with 6 runs scored, 2 homers and 10 RBIs. He has now played in 492 games in his major league career and he is 312 for 1,378 (.226 avg, .639 OPS) with 144 runs scored, 29 homers and 132 RBIs. The Orioles will be on the hunt for a better catcher than Moeller over the winter to back up Matt Wieters.

UPDATE: The Orioles have re-signed Chad Moeller to a minor league deal. He will battle Michel Hernandez and Craig Tatum for the back-up catcher job this spring.

The Orioles have lost 28-year old lefty reliever Sean Henn on waivers to the division rival Toronto Blue Jays. Henn pitched in 6 games (0 starts) for the Orioles last season and he was 0-0 with a 9.00 ERA and a 3.33 WHIP. He has now pitched in 60 games (5 starts) in his major league career and he is 2-9 with a 7.56 ERA and a 2.01 WHIP. This is addition by subtraction as the Orioles now won’t be tempted to keep him on the roster.

The Baltimore Orioles will likely look to deal 30-year old righty starting pitcher Jeremy Guthrie over the winter. The Orioles have done well trading the last few years so they should be able to get a nice haul for Guthrie who despite having a rough 2009 season still has a good upside. He has pitched in 111 games (90 starts) in his major league career and he is 27-34 with a 4.27 ERA and a 1.32 WHIP. A move to the National League or a pitcher’s park in the American League would help his numbers out big time. Now is the time to trade Guthrie especially with starting pitching being so scarce.

The Orioles have three free agents of there own and they will likely let two of them go (Melvin Mora, Danys Baez). They have an interest in bringing back lefty Mark Hendrickson with the idea of using him as a reliever as he was effective in that role with them this past season. The Orioles would also likely have interest in lefty relievers like Joe Beimel, Ron Mahay, Will Ohman or Brian Shouse. The Orioles would also like to go bargain shopping for corner infielders with (1B) Carlos Delgado and (3B) Joe Crede and Troy Glaus on the teams’ radar. The Orioles don’t want to break the bank for the 2010 season as it will be another year of developing the kids for the future.

The Orioles will likely but out Melvin Mora for #1 million bucks rather than pay him $8 million for the 2010 season. The 37-year old righty swinging Mora had one of his worst seasons in 2009 for the Orioles. He played in 125 games last season and he was 117 for 450 (.260 avg, .679 OPS) with 44 runs scored, 8 homers and 48 RBIs. The Orioles will likely be going the trade route to find Mora’s replacement as most of the free agents at 3B are likely out of their price range. O’s history will look well on Mora who played 10 years for them. He played in 1,256 games for the Orioles in which he was 1,323 for 5,388 (.280 avg, .793 OPS) with 709 runs scored, 158 homers, 662 RBIs and 82 stolen bases. He should be able to find a job with another team over the winter.

UPDATE: The Orioles have officially declined Melvin Mora’s option thus making him a free agent.

What are the Orioles thinking here? They are 61-98 (38.4%) this season which has them in last place in the American League East, 41 games behind the Yankees. In parts of three years with the Orioles, Trembley is 169-244 (40.9%) and that is not good. The only thing I can say about this is that the front office must have looked at everything and they decided the blame for this awful season should not be placed on Trembley. Make no mistake though, his seat will be hot next season so the Orioles better show some improvement if he is going to keep his job all year.