26-year old righty reliever Jason Berken doesn’t look anything like the rookie starter he was in 2009. Last season Berken pitched in 24 games (all starts) for the O’s in which he was 6-12 with a 6.54 ERA and a 1.74 WHIP. He walked 44 batters and gave up 164 hits in only 119 2/3 innings last season which is awful. He seemed nervous on the mound often trying to nibble at the corners. But this season he is attacking hitters and they results have been outstanding so far. Berken has pitched in 12 games (0 starts) this season for the Orioles and he is 0-0 with a 1.50 ERA and a 1.17 WHIP. He has only walked 4 batters in 24 innings this season for the Orioles. He is challenging hitters and letting the defense help him as he has only whiffed 11 batters this year. It looks like the Orioles have fould the right role for Berken to excel in and they hope he keeps up the good work.

The Orioles have placed 35-year old righty reliever Koji Uehara on the 15-day disabled list due to a right elbow strain. Uehara has pitched in 6 games (0 starts) for the O’s this year and he is 0-0 with a 1.80 ERA and a 1.20 WHIP. 25-year old righty David Hernandez will be shifting to the pen to replace Uehara. He has started 8 games for the Orioles this year and he is 1-5 with a 5.31 ERA and a 1.58 WHIP. He might be better off as a reliever anyway as long as he can throw strikes. He has walked 28 batters this season in 42 1/3 innings while only giving up 39 hits. Maybe shorter stints will help him be more aggressive with his stuff which would tighten up his control. 22-year old righty Chris Tillman will likely replace David Hernandez in the starting rotation come Saturday against the Blue Jays. Tillman has started 10 games in AAA-ball this year and he is 5-4 with a 3.12 ERA and a 1.16 WHIP. He has only walked 12 batters while whiffing 47 in 57 2/3 innings so he has improved his game a bit. Tillman pitched in 12 games (all starts) in his first taste of the majors last season for the O’s and he was 2-5 with a 5.40 ERA and a 1.55 WHIP. I expect him to be much better this time around.

The Orioles have placed 29-year old righty reliever Alfredo Simon on the 15-day disabled list with a left hamstring strain. Simon has pitched in 12 games (0 starts) for the Orioles so far this year and he was 1-1 with 6 saves, a 2.92 ERA and a 1.54 WHIP. Simon will be replaced as the closer by 32-year old lefty Will Ohman. Ohman has pitched in 24 games (0 starts) for the O’s this year and he is 0-0 with a 0.00 ERA and a 1.23 WHIP. He has whiffed 15 batters while only allowing 10 hits in 14 2/3 innings this season showing that his stuff is probably good enough to handle the job if he can get righty hitters out. But he has walked 8 batters this year and he will need to tighten his control if he is to have success as a closer. The O’s have recalled 26-year old righty reliever Frank Mata to replace Simon in the bullpen. Mata has pitched in 18 games (0 starts) in AAA-ball this year and he is 2-1 with 8 saves, a 1.86 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP. He has now pitched in 216 games (6 starts) in his six years in the minors and he is 15-16 with 33 saves, a 4.08 ERA and a 1.44 WHIP.

The Baltimore Orioles are likely to have a firesale of epic proportions in the next couple of months if they don’t starting turning things around soon. The first shoe to drop will be the firing of Dave Trembley with him getting replaced likely by bench coach Jeff Datz which would be a very positive move in the right direction. Datz has the right temperment to oversee a rebuilding project. But if the O’s keep losing I see them trading Garrett Atkins (or releasing him), Ty Wigginton, Cesar Izturis, Corey Patterson, Julio Lugo, Miguel Tejada, Luke Scott, Kevin Millwood, Jeremy Guthrie, Mark Hendrickson, Alberto Castillo and Will Ohman. I think the Orioles could get a nice return for Tejada, Scott, Wigginton, Guthrie and Luke Scott. There are a lot of teams that would be interested in those five guys. The other seven guys on the list would probably bring back a C-level prospect unless a couple of them were packaged together or added in a trade with one of the Big Five. Owner Peter Angelos has to be very disappointed with how the team is playing right now as he spent some real money on players over the winter in a bold attempt to improve his team.

32-year old lefty swinging OF/DH Luke Scott has added 1B to his array of positions that he can play this weekend. One thing is for certain is that Scott should be playing everyday somewhere for the Orioles due to his big bat from the left side. Scott has played in 36 games this season for the Orioles and he is 35 of 124 (.282 avg, .915 OPS) with 19 runs scored, 9 homers and 20 RBIs. Scott has the most pure power of all of the Orioles hitters and I think he could hit 30+ homers and drive in 100+ runs if the O’s just played him every single day.

The Orioles have designated 25-year old righty swinging infielder Justin Turner for assignment to make room on the roster for 26-year old lefty swinging 1B/3B Scott Moore who has been recalled by the O’s. Turner played in 5 games earlier this season for the Orioles and he was 0 for 9 (.000 avg) with 3 whiffs. He played in 17 games in parts of two years with the Orioles in which he was 3 for 27 (.111 avg, .337 OPS) with 2 runs scored and 3 RBIs. Scott Moore last played in the majors in 2008 for the Orioles. He has played in 39 games in his major league career and he is 23 of 98 (.235 avg, .665 OPS) with 9 runs scored, 4 homers and 17 RBIs. Moore has played in 34 games in AAA-ball this season and he was 34 of 123 (.276 avg, .787 OPS) with 20 runs scored, 5 homers, 23 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. I doubt that Moore will help the Orioles much but he is still probably a much better player than Turner is.

UPDATE: The New York Mets have claimed Turner off waivers from the O’s.

Ty Wigginton is playing some of the best baseball of his 9-year career this season for the Baltimore Orioles, and is on a current 7-game hit-streak.  Wigginton, who has never hit better than .285 in a season, is currently hitting .320 with 12 HRs and 24 RBIs.  He is on pace to easily surpass his career-high of 24 HRs, as his 12 homers this season are good enough for second best in all of baseball so far.  What is even more impressive about his current power surge is that he has already had three multi-homerun games this season.  Wigginton has been seeing the ball extremely well all season, especially lately.  In his current 7-game hit-streak, the last four have been multi-hit games.  Unfortunately for the Orioles, Wigginton is one of the few things they can be happy with so far this season.  They are already deep at the bottom of the AL East standings and other than Wigginton their offense has been stagnant.  Nick Markakis and Miguel Tejada have been decent, but the Orioles need to give their pitching more run support.  Guys like Kevin Millwood, Jeremy Gunthrie, and Brian Matusz have been pitching pretty well this season, but have been getting very little run-support.  More guys need to step up like Wigginton is, or the Orioles season will just keep getting uglier.

Mike Gonzalez and Jim Johnson have both been injured most of the season so the O’s called up 29-year old righty reliever Alfredo Simon and they started pitching him in the 9th inning and he is responding well so far. Simon has pitched in 8 games for the Orioles this season and he is 0-0 with 5 saves, a 0.00 ERA and a 1.50 WHIP. He will need to start throwing more strikes to keep the closer’s job as he has walked 5 batters in only 8 innings this year but he has 9 whiffs so he does have the stuff to succeed. This is coming as a bit of a surprise as Simon pitched in 6 games (3 starts) for the Orioles in his first two years with them in which he was 0-1 with a 7.45 ERA and a 1.45 WHIP. The Orioles really hope that Simon keeps up the good work because they can’t afford to be giving any games away.

The Orioles traded for 35-year old righty starting pitcher Kevin Millwood over the winter to give them a anchor to the starting staff. He has done his part this season but the offense isn’t doing their part when he’s on the mound. Millwood has started 8 games for the Orioles this season and he is 0-4 with a 3.69 ERA and a 1.27 WHIP. He has whiffed 41 batters while only walking 15 in 53 2/3 innings this season as he is coming right after hitters. He is showing a good example to the younger pitchers on the Orioles and he’s eating innings so despite not having any wins he’s still helping the Orioles.

23-year old righty swinging 3B Josh Bell came to the Orioles from the Dodgers last summer in the George Sherrill trade. He is the O’s #2 prospect according to Baseball America coming into this season. Bell has played in 32 games in AAA-ball this season and he is 32 of 125 (.256 avg, .747 OPS) with 17 runs scored, 6 homers and 21 RBIs. But he still has some work to do with his swing as he has also whiffed 35 times this year. Bell has now played in 447 games in his six years in the minors and he is 470 of 1,640 (.287 avg, .834 OPS) with 256 runs scored, 62 homers, 263 RBIs and 22 stolen bases. If the Orioles raise the White Flag in July and trade Miguel Tejada then Bell could get the call to the show then to make his major league debut. But the Orioles are under no pressure to rush Bell so they likely won’t bring him up until he is ready.