Adam Jones is back!
Hopefully this means Jay Payton sightings will be much less frequent for the last month of the season. In fact, Payton and Kevin Millar, both of whom will be free agents at season's end, should spend a good amount of September on the bench.
With as well as Luis Montanez has played since being recalled, he needs to continue to be in the line-up. With that in mind, the following should be pretty much the every-day lineup throughout September:
Brian Roberts 2B
Adam Jones CF
Nick Markakis RF
Aubrey Huff 1B
Melvin Mora 3B
Luke Scott DH
Lou Montanez LF
Ramon Hernandez C
Who really cares SS
It will be Juan Castro, because he is solid defensively at shortstop, but it really is a bit pathetic the shortstops the Orioles have run out this year. One of Andy MacPhail's top goals this off-season needs to be acquiring a shortstop with some talent.
The most important thing about Jones coming back is it makes this team much more exciting to watch in September. With hopefully Montanez getting a good amount of at bats in left field or even at DH, we should have some reasons to actually tune in in September. In recent years, far too often we've seen the likes of Payton or Millar-clones, guys with no future with the team playing in September when younger guys could have had their shot.
Hopefully the return of Jones, to go along with seeing Montanez everyday, will make it much more interesting down the stretch.
Or, as one Oriole fan told me "Can't make it less interesting."
Well said.
Keywords: Baltimore Orioles
