MONTH IN REVIEW: At the end of May, Spuds' GM Joe Lederer was quoted on a Frontier League-centric podcast saying "If we .500 in June, I'll be doing cartwheels." Well, the team fell just short at 12-14 but according to Lederer in a recent press conference, "June's 12-14 felt a lot better than May's 16-11." When followed up with "Why?," Lederer said "We had players really struggling in the first two months, our bullpen was a disaster and we were getting blown out of games with regularity. Although we lost more games than we won this month, our offense is starting to really hit on all cylinders, we've made some moves to improve the bullpen and its working and we've actually turned our run differential into a positive." One reason for Lederer's tepid satisfaction at a 12-14 month was the fact that Boise faced the four teams above them in the Frontier Division (Edmonton, Mexico City, Las Vegas, and San Antonio) a total of eighteen times, including eight on the road. In those games, Boise went a rough 6-12 but still within reach of the wild card. Outside of the division, Boise went 6-2 to make up needed ground in the standings. July expects to be better, as the Spuds face the likes of Jacksonville, Wichita and Charlotte, as well as get some rest during the All-Star break for a second-half surge.
The month game to a big close in the news, as Boise swung two trades with Phoenix and Portland. The deal with the Talons send Jesus Arce packing, bringing back a young relief prospect. The Spuds acquired pitcher Héctor Díaz from the Lumberjacks in exchange for Triple-A starter Alfredo Perales. Both players are set to hit free agency, however the Spuds will transition Díaz into the bullpen as a trial run if his services will be needed beyond 2042.
The Spuds made huge headlines when team captain and face-of-the-franchise Dennis French signed a six-year extension for $107M. The length of the deal is the maximum allowed by league rules and the AAV is substantially less than what many expected. The hometown discount bought out his final year of arbitration and comes with no options, however French can earn an additional $1M for every Silk Award he wins during the contract. In the past three seasons, French has taken home one Silk Award and finished second and third in the other years.
ORE-IDA® TATER-TOTS EMOJI SUMMARY OF THE MONTH:
HITTER OF THE MONTH: Dennis French - .391/.444/.718 (6 HR, 28 R, 22 RBI, 5 SB)
PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Pancho Germán - 2-2 (5 GS), 3.55 ERA, 1.27 WHIP (4.9 K/9, 2.5 BB/9)
HOT POTATOES:
Félix Román - .343/.424/.694 (9 HR, 20 R, 32 RBI, 7 SB)
Pepe Madrid - .325/.361/.649 (4 HR, 8 R, 15 RBI)
Motonobu Yamashita - .385/.419/.547 (2 HR, 19 R, 21 RB, 11 SB)
Dave Walsh - 1-0 (7 G), 1 HLD, 2.00 ERA, 0.89 WHP (6.0 K/9, 3.0 BB/9)
COLD FRIES:
Yunosuke Terada - .190/.308/.360 (5 HR, 15 R, 15 RBI)
Sancho Castillo - .235/.325/.368 (2 HR, 13 R, 4 RBI)
Leroy Hoffman - 0-2 (4 GS), 6.23 ERA, 1.52 WHIP (5.0 K/9, 2.1 BB/9)
Adam Bernard - 0-2 (7 G), 10.38 ERA, 2.31 WHIP (4.2 K/9, 3.1 BB/9)
