Catching up with Lou Montanez
"Catching" is an interesting word to choose, since outfielder Lou Montanez has grown tired of hearing about his defensive shortcomings.
Montanez keeps reading about the club having issues with his defense, and he counters by pointing out that becoming the regular left fielder would give him the chance to make more plays.
"Even in hitting, when you get to start and play a lot of games in a row, you get to really show what you can do," he said. "Sometimes, players off the bench can't really showcase everything they offer because they don't get in a rhythm or don't have the situations to really shine. When you play every day for two or three weeks, situations come up in a game where you can make a really good play, a diving play. If you play once or twice a week, you might not get that ball where you can make a great catch or a great throw to the plate. Maybe if I get the chance to play more next year, just by the numbers, I'll get more chances to do things.
"I love to lay out. That's what I'd do when I was a shortstop. I know some fielders aren't comfortable doing that, but I always lay out if I can."
Montanez spent the bulk of his pre-game time with the Orioles working to improve the accuracy on his throws. He also needed to take better routes to the ball as he adjusted to major league ballparks.
Montanez could end up in a platoon with Luke Scott in left field - though Scott could become the regular designated hitter if Aubrey Huff moves to first base. So far, Montanez's bat has been his ticket to the majors, but he feels unappreciated as a fielder.
"All my years in the minors, I'd lead my team in assists and they'd move me around everywhere," he said.
Montanez is working out in Miami, though he hasn't started baseball-related activities. He's informed the club that he'd prefer sticking to the same routine that benefitted him so much this season, but he might play winter ball - which the Orioles have recommended - during the latter half of December.
He also has been included on Puerto Rico's roster for the World Baseball Classic, but must decide whether it would hurt his chances of sticking with the Orioles if he leaves them during camp. He'll need to consult with team president Andy MacPhail and manager Dave Trembley.
"You don't want that to work against you," he said.
I'm convinced that Montanez needs to be included on the 25-man roster, in whatever capacity. He can flat-out hit and he's athletic. He's earned the chance.
Plus he's your BOY, that probably doesn't hurt.
Has Reimold not earned the chance?
What is it about Reimold that this organization is sour on, exactly?
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They're not sour on him at all. If he tears it up in spring training, he could force his way onto the team. Otherwise, he's ticketed for Triple-A to start the season, with the chance to be called up later. He barely played at Bowie in 2007 because of oblique injuries, so that set him back. But there's still plenty of time for him. And there eventually would be room for Reimold and Montanez on the roster. - Roch
Great stuff, Roch. Montanez should be on the team next season, but he needs to learn, as you remind us in this post, that great defense isn't about "laying out". Its about reading the ball off the bat and taking the shortest route to the ball, which will minimize the need to lay out. Then, once you catch it, make a good, accurate throw to the correct base or cutoff man. That's good defense!
Agreed. I never understood why the O's were so patient with poor-fielding shortstops but refused to give a productive and dynamic left-fielder more opportunities after one poorly played ball. Especially towards the end of the season. Could he really have been much worse than Scott or Payton? I don't know about all of that "laying out" any time he gets a chance stuff, but he has the chance to improve this team which is rare in our system.
On a side note, I love when people say that we should not spend money here or there if it affects future spending, like we have ever been privvy to how much money we have to spend or how much the team has made over the years. The only money movement I have seen is downward. THe Orioles were the inventors of big payroll baseball but suddenly we are small market? Quite a PR move.
Should have just let him play. Was a waste of time sticking Jay Payton out there. Should have just released Payton in mid-august and let Lou play while Jones was out. What would it have hurt? The O's couldn't have finished in 6th place in the AL East. It was a huge waste to bring him up and sit him.
Kinda surprises me he went to the OF after not cutting it at SS. I thought most of the time guys go to 2B or 3B.
If the O's send him to AAA to work on his fielding I think they should try a deal for Wily Mo Pena. Sure he is not the best fielder. But he crushes left handed pitching. He was hurt last year so he did not hit anything well. But in '07 he hit .330/.395/.518 vs Lefites. And he will only be 27 this upcoming season. It be ideal that it ends up being a platoon at DH.
Whay are the O's having such a hard time determining if he can make it in the field or not? He played almost a full season at Bowie as an outfielder in 2007. What kind of a rating did his manager down there give him?
Two words...Triple Crown. He should be one of the most talked about prospects we have. We are willing to pay 100 million for Texiera's bat (I know he is a hell of a fielder) but hardly mention Sweet Lou when talking about our prospects. Get this guy in the line-up everyday. Manny is a horrible fielder and Johnny Damon would be last picked in a snowball fight...their teams seem to get by just fine with them in the field. Scott is our DH, Huff at first and spend the money on pitching.
He had some awkward looking throws last year, but he looked athletic covering ground. I can't believe we're looking at this as an area where we might sign a free agent with Montanez here already and Reimold getting old in the minors.
Unless, we're talking about trading Luke to the Cubs, who are clamoring about a left-handed hitting outfielder, and that would make sense. It's hard to imagine Montanez's defense in left as our big problem next year, but I guess they know something I don't.
Randy Johnson isn't coming to Baltimore unless every other team ignores him. He wants to stay out west (homes in CA and AZ) and play for a winning team. His last experience on the east coast wasn't exactly enjoyable for him and couple it with bad weather and his assortment of injuries (back, leg) makes it a bad combination. The Dbacks offered him around $3M and he wanted more in the $5-6M range to stay in AZ. I'm guessing to leave AZ he would want more than $6M.
I still see no logic in going after big money offensive players (Tex) when the pitching staff is a complete disaster and will take several yrs to fix it. AJ has no durability and to pay him big $$$ isn't smart.
I'm not sure where this defensive liability stuff comes from w/ Lou. He was no worse than Luke, who never seemed to see a blooper in front of him. I thought there were many plays to left where, Luke was never even in the TV picture, that I figured to be outs. Defensively the O's look great in CF and RF, maybe LF not so much, bit I know Lou will hit if given the chance. Trade Aubrey while we get get value for him, make Luke DH, and room for Montanez and Reimold in the outfield. Maybe Aubrey will bring us a SS or an arm.
JPA,
There's a difference between spending money and spending money well. I think everyone here would agree that we don't have the coffers of the Yankees or Red Sox. We can probably afford to shell out money to the tune of a $100 million payroll, but that's still only half of what those teams spend and I don't believe it gets us anywhere close to where we need to be to actually make the playoffs. In my mind, if you are spending money in a quest to get to .500 with no actual shot at the playoffs you aren't running a team very well. For the past 10 years the mistake hasn't been not spending enough money, it's been spending money on the wrong people. We paid Marty Cordova, Jay Gibbons, Albert Belle, Javy Lopez, and Jay Payton plenty of money and got stuck with massive contracts that didn't match the players' performance on the field. The Giants are stuck with Barry Zito for the next 5 years because they overpaid and gave him a contract that was too long. Unless you can afford to buy your way out of bad contracts by paying players to sit at home and paying the guys who will replace them on the roster, you have to be smart in free agency.
AJ Burnett is a good but not great pitcher who will command $15 mil a year for 4+ years at the age of 31. Historically, players start to fall off around 31-32 years old (the stats back this up). Only a select few can keep up their peak performance into their mid-late 30s. Basically, we would be paying Burnett for the next 4 years like he was still 31 because he had a career year this year and he'll be eating up payroll that could be devoted to other players. Garland is largely the same beast, but not as good of a pitcher.
So, here's my plan for this year:
-Stick with the rebuilding plan and trade away any and all veterans that can net good prospects, including Roberts, Huff, Hernandez, Mora, Sherill and Scott. I know people want to keep Roberts, but he is not going to be worth his salary when we matter again. His value is in getting another player to be a part of the team for the next 5 years.
-Look for prospects to fill the holes in our system right now. That means SS, 2B, 3B, and always more pitching. If the Brewers want to trade JJ Hardy for a reasonable price, go after him and then sign him to an extension through 2013 or so. He's young and would be a long-term answer for when we're good in 2010 and beyond. Don't sign Furcal or Cabrera at SS. Go after a defensive guy to support our young pitchers.
-Sign cheap pitchers to short term deals to fill out the rotation.
-Let Tillman, Arrieta and Matusz spend the summer in the minors with the possibility of a September call up. I would hope for at least 2 of them to be in the rotation on Opening Day 2010.
-Sign Markakis and Jones to long-term extensions through 2013 or beyond. Consider doing what the Rays did with Longoria for Weiters. Set up a 7-8 year contract that he could sign as soon as he's called up. We have to hold onto our young guys until they're 32-33.
Roberts .311
Jones .288
Markakis .307
Huff .283
Wieters .317
Mora .268
Scott .270
Montanez .285
O.Cabrera .274
Burnett-3.58
Guthrie-3.46
Garland-4.28
Byrd-4.74
Patton-4.78
Bass-4.34
Sarfate-4.11
Albers-4.20
Baez-3.78
Sherill-3.44
Johnson-3.07
Ray-3.22
Salazar-.271
Castro-.215
Terrero-.278
Quiroz-.245
XD23, I'm with you. Why did we bother playing Payton last year? We finished 28.5 games out of first for crying out loud! We need to see much more of Lou Montanez. With a natural stroke like he has, you find ways to put him in the lineup.
"I love to lay out. That's what I'd do when I was a shortstop."
Does anyone else know that Lou can play short? A young, fast, .300 hitter who plays short and isn't afraid to get his uniform dirty? Tell the Front Office to send him to Winter Ball with an INFIELDER'S GLOVE!
We're rebuilding- we're not likely to even compete for a Wild Card. Unless Reimold wins the starting job in LF, give Montanez a season to show what he can do in the field and at bat. I have to agree with others, giving Payton playing time after Lou can up made no sense. If they sign Tex, forget Millar and trade Scott, Huff or Mora for the best prospects you can get.
Lou might have looked a bit awkward in the field, but he seemed pretty comfortable at the plate. I'm not a scout but it looked to me like he could hit. Is he really that much of an embarassment in LF (I don't think so)? I think, given the chance to play on a regular basis, he would play adequate defensive in left field.
Lou is a hitter and an upbeat young guy. We don't need him to time catches to "lay out." The best course for Lou is to practice hard each day taking fly balls. Anticipate and see the ball, Lou. Move to it and get in position to make the throw. Make sure you know where to throw the ball in every situation. Work hard on being a fundamentally sound outfielder. That's your ticket to playing next year with the Baltimore Orioles.
just had to say... i was out tonite and drank for free via two guys who thought that they could out-talk me on baseball-related subjects. when they told me they were cubs fans, i thought we could have a brian roberts moment, but no. we couldn't have even had a DAVE roberts moment. they just knew nothing. about anything.
i need to meet more guys who can talk baseball. more than being able to simply identify a baseball amongst an item list of "baseball", "automobile", and "tire iron"....
i should really just get out of cleveland.
Preaching to the choir, Roch. I'd love to see Montanez or Reimold in LF, Scott at DH, and take it from there. Heck, those three guys could rotate around LF/DH (could sit Scott against tough lefties, for example). If we get the big fella at 1B, that's awesome and we can deal Huff. Otherwise, Huff plays 1B.
Roch- I do not think enough people point out the other positives to signing someone like Tex. It is not all about the stats.
1- 20 million dollars a year is roughly 4000 tickets a game. I think that he would definitely increase the attendance that much. So, he pays for himself. That is before merchandising as well. We have to get the fans back.
2- Also, it gives the O's national attention. They have lacked that in many years. Thats why Nick doesn't win his Gold Gloves. Nobody knows who he is.
3- If you sign Tex, it shows other bigger names that maybe Baltimore is not the Bermuda Triangle. It will help attract other players.
4- The signing will show players that are already in our system that the Front Office is committed to winning.
5- Defensive free agency, this is the BIGGEST reason of all. If the O's don't sign him, who does? The Yankees? The Red Sox? DO YOU WANT TO SEE OUR HOMETOWN BOY PLAYING FOR OUR BITTER RIVALS AND CRUSHING OUR PITCHING STAFF 18 TIMES A YEAR? Remember, if he is on our team, he can't be on anyone elses. (Although, I wish we could have paid Jay Gibbons to play against us. Or, let DCAB start for the opponent.)
6- People keep comparing Tex to Huff. No comparison. Do you really think that Huff is gonna repeat what he did in 08 again?
We have to trade Huff why the stock is high. Same as Bedard. If we save that 10 million, then Tex is a no-brainer. Burnett, and another righty in the bullpen would be all I would worry about. I have a feeling the pitching woes of the O's are soon to be gone. I think we see Bergeson and Hernandez in the 1st month of the season.
Burnett
Guthrie
Patton
Hernandez
Bergeson
I am tired of seeing these career minor league journeymen. The O's will never win with Waters, Burres, and the 28 year old Long relievers that we all see every year. Guys that have been on like 9 other teams and we grab them off waivers just to have a live body.
Give the kid a chance. He can flat out hit. As a previous poster said, the Sox and Dodgers didn't worry much about Manny's fielding. I'm not comparing him to Ramirez, but, while we're trying to assemble a winning team can we not at least give a decent chance to those already here? Go O's!
waking up...going back to bed...
waking up to seeing the orioles have signed another utility player, someone named murphy...not many at bats, still hitting 194...makes me want to go back to bed on a day like this. is camden yards having free tryouts this year for utility players open to the public?
i hope you're more optimistic in your morning blog. meanwhile, i see the yankees offered sabathia big money...not that we were going to sign him...but still...
rhonda