If the Boise Spuds were a movie, I'd say they were Weekend at Bernie's. This is because they'll be lugging the dead carcass of starting pitcher Robert Hansen from town to town in hopes no one will notice that, after suffering a labrum tear late last season, his career is now officially dead, leaving behind nothing but a $10M body. Throw hard and leave behind a rich corpse, right?
This is a shame because, otherwise, the pitching side of the game could wind up being okay. The rotation, led by 35-year-old Mahad Einan and followed up by a pair of 27-year-olds in Baz Badr and Robert Carlson, could be passablebut would look much better if Hansen could have fit in there. And any bullpen anchored by 25-year-old Mario Santos can potentially be deadly. The addition of ex-San Fernando Free Agent Abban Layar should help here, as long as he can match his 85 innings of work from last season, anyway. He's 33, though. His health is a little dicey. Still, there are some guys who can throw in spots. Gerald Rogers, last from Montreal, and also 33 (and a bit fragile) can be useful, too. I mean, the pen's maybe a little soft in the middle, but that's the kind of thing that can work out.
Offensively, though,
Well, so much depends on how many times they can get Bill Kuhn to the plate. At 23, the third baseman used his sophomore season to go ballistic, dropping 40 bombs and driving in 111 runs. He led the league with a .420 OBP, and posted a .981 OPS. The future is bright. After Kuhn, though, the Spud mashers fall off--though the front office certainly hopes that the acquisition of Tsutomu Yamauchi (from Sacramento in mid-season last year) pays the dividends that it appeared it might. Yamauchi had fallen on hard times in California, but the change of scenery seemed to do the trick as the outfielder hit 111 homers in 277 plate appearances and managed 1.7 WAR in less than half a season. Keep that up, and things could look better.
Add in a rapid springtime growth of AAA 1B William Coleman, and maybe you're actually cooking with gas. We're not betting on that, though. Maybe later this year?
The rest of the offense is filled with good-not-great players, many nearing the end of the line: Martin Hemming (OF), Pedro Hozven (1B), Tracy Allison (1B), Ryan Geauxinue (2B), and Jose Montoya (1B) were all effectively 1.5 WAR players in a fair chunk of time. Soid, better than nothing guys to be sure, but not guys you plan to ride in convertibles with during the ticker-tape parade.
Up the middle defensively, Dan Raymond is your classic no-hit, slick-glove guy at short. Geauxinue is kind of a hatchet at second base, and Bob Hills is a hit-a little, defend-a little guy in center. Hills did 2.2 WAR overall last year, effectively second-best on the team to Kuhn. The catching will be done mostly by 23-year-old Tadanobu Otani, who had a workable debut, but looks like he should get better as time goes.
Add it all up and you've got a real plateful of spud offerings.
Last year, this team won 82 games. Which was four more than their run-based projections say they should have. Without Hansen, around, and just as importantly, without his $10M available in the budget (I mean, that seems like a real problem), I can't see them getting much better in 2062.
It's going to be another interesting year in Spudville, I think.