Boise's first major order of off-season business, salary arbitration, is in the books. The Spuds had twelve cases to resolve, the same total in the 2041-2042 off-season. The team immediately declined offers to RP
Jorge Báez and CF
Abay Omoruyi, resulting in both players becoming free agents. Báez spent most of the season in Triple-A Salt Lake City, but did tally 26 innings for Boise out of the bullpen, going 2-1 with a 6.92 ERA. Omoruyi bounced between Double-A Weymouth and Salt Lake City, providing organizational depth as a veteran glove-first outfielder. With expansion in the Unified Middle East Baseball Association, both players could find regular playing time overseas in 2043.
PLAYER | 2042 SALARY | TEAM OFFER | PLAYER DEMAND |
Félix Román | $500,000 | $7,500,000 | $8,125,000 |
Motonobu Yamashita | $500,000 | $4,500,000 | $5,750,000 |
Sancho Castillo | $2,700,000 | $2,700,000 | $3,187,500 |
Dave Walsh | $1,750,000 | $2,300,000 | $2,500,000 |
Bill Carter | $980,000 | $1,000,000 | $1,375,000 |
Laurent Durand | $775,000 | $850,000 | $1,155,000 |
Frank Metcalf | $500,000 | $850,000 | $1,250,000 |
Kevin Lyons | $680,000 | $650,000 | $1,242,500 |
Tom Warren | $500,000 | $550,000 | $1,155,000 |
Joaquín Torres | $500,000 | $500,000 | $1,250,000 |
For the fourth straight off-season, the Boise front office won an arbitration hearing that ruled in favor of the team that resulted in pay cut for a player, and for the second consecutive year, it was catcher Kevin Lyons. Overall, the team went 5-5 in arbitration, the first "non-winning" off-season under general manager Joe Lederer's tenure. Of the ten that went to arbitration, Boise will see an increase of $14,952,500 of salary, thanks to stars Román and Yamashita seeing big, but deserved, bumps in salary. In Lederer's first four years of arbitration hearings, the Spuds are now 27-11.
With arbitration hearings in the team's rear view, Lederer turns his attention to free agency. As expected, the Spuds are targeting several players in free agency. With a second-straight year with a payroll budget at the salary cap maximum of $110M, the Spuds have approximately $31M in room to spend.