Luis Montanez

[Frobby]

I don't think I've ever seen a Bowie Baysox player ever have favorable home splits(except Wieters, but he is going to save us all from the apocalypse so he doesn't count). There was a minorleaguebaseball.com article last year talking about how Bowie was hands-down the toughest park for hitters in the minor leagues, due to a variety of factors.

I can't believe there was an article like the one you describe. It seems to me Bowie is actually one of the least pitcher-friendly parks in the Orioles' minor league system. I'd say Norfolk, Frederick, Delmarva and Aberdeen all are tougher places to hit than Bowie.

[gfrank]

I can't believe there was an article like the one you describe. It seems to me Bowie is actually one of the least pitcher-friendly parks in the Orioles' minor league system. I'd say Norfolk, Frederick, Delmarva and Aberdeen all are tougher places to hit than Bowie.

Yeah, it actually surprised me a little bit too when I saw the article, although it does add up to some extent. We've had a good amount of John Stephens-types put up superstar numbers at Bowie, but not a lot of great offensive appear there.

Still, Norfolk seems like an absolute hitter's hell. I definitely would have pegged Norfolk as a harder place to hit than Bowie.

Do you think we would see him called up if Jay Payton gets moved at the deadline?

I sure hope so. The only other semi-viable replacement we have for Jay Payton is Luis Terrero, and I think we've all seen enough of him to last us the rest of eternity. I'd like to think the Orioles would call up Montanez before they'd call up Terrero, but I've learned not to get my hopes up over such things.

[BowieMike]

Yeah, it actually surprised me a little bit too when I saw the article, although it does add up to some extent. We've had a good amount of John Stephens-types put up superstar numbers at Bowie, but not a lot of great offensive appear there.

Is this the article you are thinking of?

[Frobby]

Is this the article you are thinking of?

That must have been it. Has the new lighting made a difference?

It's interesting to me that over the years quite a few of our top prospects hit better at Bowie than they did at Frederick -- Val Majewksi, Nick Markakis and Nolan Reimold for example. That would seem to belie the idea that Bowie is a tough place to hit. And Wieters hasn't seemed bothered, either.

[Jagwar]

2-5 tonight, hit HR number 23 with 5 RBIs, now has 82 on the season.

At .316/.371/.567, I sure hope he comes to Baltimore in September.

* Have AA pitchers stopped throwing to Wieter? He had 4 walks tonight.

[clarence]

They ought to think about not pitching to Montanez. Those numbers make him a prospect, I don't care if he's 26.

[Big Mac]

2-5 tonight, hit HR number 23 with 5 RBIs, now has 82 on the season.

At .316/.371/.567, I sure hope he comes to Baltimore in September.

* Have AA pitchers stopped throwing to Wieter? He had 4 walks tonight.

They might have stopped pitching to him. 2 of the walks were intentional.

[bluedog]

2-5 tonight, hit HR number 23 with 5 RBIs, now has 82 on the season.

At .316/.371/.567, I sure hope he comes to Baltimore in September.

* Have AA pitchers stopped throwing to Wieter? He had 4 walks tonight.

If the O's fail to promote Montanez for a September looksie, I'm going to completely loose faith in this organization all over again.

Watching Jay Payton today pop up and striker out in consecutive at bats with 1 out and the bases loaded was enough. I have absolutely no doubt that Montanez (or Reimold) could top Payton's .656 OPS without breaking a sweat if given the chance.

Watching hitting prospects like Cust and Casey Blake go to other organizations and put up solid numbers at the Major League level after the O's failed to give them even a cursory look with the big club drives me insane. Especially when they are blocked by mediocre veterans, on the tail ends of their careers making million dollar+ salaries with no possibility of any upside.

Is it really that hard to figure out that guys like Montanez and Reimold should get shots at displacing stiff's like Payton, particularly over the last two months of yet another lost season?

And I don't want to hear any nonsense about maintaining Payton's trade value. He has exactly as much value as an average fielding outfielder with a .650 OPS should have and playing time isn't going to change that. Either move him or cut him, but let's seem Montanez or Reimold getting his at bats (and Mora or Millar's at bats as well) in the very near future.

[Anonymous]

If the O's fail to promote Montanez for a September looksie, I'm going to completely loose faith in this organization all over again.

Watching Jay Payton today pop up and striker out in consecutive at bats with 1 out and the bases loaded was enough. I have absolutely no doubt that Montanez (or Reimold) could top Payton's .656 OPS without breaking a sweat if given the chance.

Watching hitting prospects like Cust and Casey Blake go to other organizations and put up solid numbers at the Major League level after the O's failed to give them even a cursory look with the big club drives me insane. Especially when they are blocked by mediocre veterans, on the tail ends of their careers making million dollar+ salaries with no possibility of any upside.

Is it really that hard to figure out that guys like Montanez and Reimold should get shots at displacing stiff's like Payton, particularly over the last two months of yet another lost season?

And I don't want to hear any nonsense about maintaining Payton's trade value. He has exactly as much value as an average fielding outfielder with a .650 OPS should have and playing time isn't going to change that. Either move him or cut him, but let's seem Montanez or Reimold getting his at bats (and Mora or Millar's at bats as well) in the very near future.

If Payton is traded this week and we recover $1.7 mil, which we then use to lubricate the process of signing our recent draftees, that's not exactly nonsense. If on the other hand Payton sticks around beyond, say, mid-August (with contract recovery possibilities diminishing each game), then there's no excuse for holding off on making the switch to one of the Bowie boys (with Lou being my first choice).

[DrungoHazewood]

I can't believe there was an article like the one you describe. It seems to me Bowie is actually one of the least pitcher-friendly parks in the Orioles' minor league system. I'd say Norfolk, Frederick, Delmarva and Aberdeen all are tougher places to hit than Bowie.

How about this article.

Bowie is a pitcher's park, although there are some caveats: With the exception of Frederick all of the O's minor league parks are pitchers parks. And Bowie is like OPACY, in that it's a good homer park, but it cuts other offensive events so much that overall it's a pretty good pitcher's park.

[bluedog]

If Payton is traded this week and we recover $1.7 mil, which we then use to lubricate the process of signing our recent draftees, that's not exactly nonsense. If on the other hand Payton sticks around beyond, say, mid-August (with contract recovery possibilities diminishing each game), then there's no excuse for holding off on making the switch to one of the Bowie boys (with Lou being my first choice).

It's not nonsense to trade Payton and recover a portion of his salary. It is nonsense that we need to give him playing time in order to keep his trade value up (or somehow improve it). Payton can ride the pine and he'll be worth just as much in a couple of weeks as he is now. Teams know what they are getting with Payton without needing to scout him at this point.

But your point is a good one - if we can give Payton away for nothing and just get salary relief, it will be better than cutting him.

[Anonymous]

It's not nonsense to trade Payton and recover a portion of his salary. It is nonsense that we need to give him playing time in order to keep his trade value up (or somehow improve it). Payton can ride the pine and he'll be worth just as much in a couple of weeks as he is now. Teams know what they are getting with Payton without needing to scout him at this point.

But your point is a good one - if we can give Payton away for nothing and just get salary relief, it will be better than cutting him.

Not that I agree fully on the idea of making Payton ride the pine (if anything, I would have liked to see him get a bit more time in CF during the season in order to give Adam a breather from time to time) -- but, on the larger point, I think we have some harmonic convergence here.

I've grown to respect Jay this year in the way he's carried himself, adapting to the role of part-time player and fuller-time mentor. But it would be a great disappointment, for the sake of all parties, if we couldn't find a landing spot for him this week or extremely soon thereafter.