Moves I'd make today...

With Chad Bradford having been traded to the Tampa Bay Rays yesterday for a player to be named later, it got the Bad Oriole thinking about the other moves I would make to improve this team now and for the future.

1. Trade Jay Payton for PTBNL or release him. Call up Nolan Reimold. Payton could fetch a PTBNL and trading him would be more about freeing up roster space for Reimold than anything else. Reimold is doing well in Bowie, .293/19/67/.870 stat line. Calling up Reimold would weaken Bowie's offense as they fight for first place in their division, but they'd still have the big bats of Matt Wieters and Jeff Nettles. Reimold figures to be the starting LF for the Orioles in 2009 with Luke Scott moving into more of a DH role, so using these last 2 months to get Reimold adjusted to the majors would be a good idea.

2. DFA Lance Cormier, call up Jim Miller. After being a decent mop-up guy for the first three months of the season, Cormier has allowed runs in 8 of his last 10 appearances and watched as his ERA went from 2.08 to 4.97 over that time span. Meanwhile, RHP reliever Jim Miller is coasting at Norfolk, with a 3.18 ERA, 65 K's in 56 IP, and a 1.11 WHIP.

3. DFA Brian Burres, sign LHP Matt Riley. In his last 3 IP, Burres has allowed 9 ER. This comes after Burres was shaky at best as a SP. Burres clearly doesn't have the stuff to get MLB batters out. Former Oriole prospect Matt Riley was released by the Dodgers last week after an impressive 40.2 IP in AAA, where he compiled 55 K and a 2.88 ERA. Converting Riley to a LOOGY would limit his pitching meltdowns, which we should all remember from his time as an Oriole.

4. Give Guillermo Quiroz more starts. Ramon Hernandez is a butcher behind the plate. Plus he could use the rest. Yeah he's still a potential trade piece, but Quiroz has played well in limited time and looks to be the future back-up to Matt Wieters. Reward him with as much playing time as you can before Wieters takes over.

5. Call up Hayden Penn as soon as he's healthy. Penn was supposed to be called up when the O's called up Chris Waters, but Penn was injured by a broken bat to the knee. Penn should be back to normal by this time next week, and as soon as he's healthy, bring him to Baltimore to take over Dennis Sarfate's aborted rotation spot. Penn has struggled at times in Norfolk this season, and is still working on gaining arm strength after dealing with injuries the last 2 years, but we saw that struggling in Norfolk doesn't exactly equal struggling in the majors. Just ask Chris Waters.

6. Get Lou Montanez regular playing time. Montanez was the leader in average, home runs and runs batted in when he was called up from the Baysox earlier this week. He also homered in his first major league at bat on Wednesday. Montanez may never be the slugger he was in Bowie, but he could become a decent 4th OF in 2009 and beyond. He's 26 years old. Get him as much playing time as possible to see how he fits into this team's plans. With Scott dealing with an aching heel, and Payton being traded/released soon, getting Montanez playing time shouldn't be a problem.

7. Extend Nick Markakis. He's the future of this team and the face of the franchise. Keep it that way. A 6 year, 65 million deal sounds fair.

8. Extend Dave Trembley. Trembley has taken a team that was projected to lose 100 games and kept them around .500 for most of the season. Granted, there is still a lot of baseball to be played, but Trembley is the guy to lead the new-look Orioles into the next few years. He's a straight-shooter who tells it like it is and while he does have some managerial flaws (favors veterans and defense a tad too much and has a short leash for starting pitchers), but he's done enough to prove to me that he should be this team's leader for the next 3 years, at least.

That's all I can think of for now. What moves would you make to the Orioles today?