The Monks struggled in July and ended the month with a losing record going 12-13. Despite our struggles we remain in first place, although we're tied with the Royals now. We have a pretty favorable schedule in August, so I expect we'll bounce back this month.
We signed Orlando Velez in the offseason, and he's been great going 5-10 with 27 saves and a 3.76 ERA. He's expressed an interest in coming back, and despite my hesitancy because of his age we offered him a two year contract making slightly more than the $1.5 million he's making this year, with the second year a team option.
We also re-upped with Dean Bates on a one year $1.1 million contract. He's played well as a fourth/fifth outfielder in limited action.
Ramiro Contreras, Pat Robinson, Francisco Rodriguez, Mauricio Maio, Pedro Torres, Christian Johnson, and Phil Schroeder were our representatives for the All-Star game.
Scouting director Pancho Hernandez has been with the Monks a long time. He's been with us 11 of my first 12 years, and I thought things have gone well. His contract is up after the season, and it bothers me that he's not interested in being the scouting director anymore. While I don't have anything against him, if he doesn't want to sign an extension the search for a new scouting director has already begun, which may result in Hernandez looking for a new position sooner rather than later.
Pedro Torres hit six home runs this month and remained in 21st place on the career leaderboards.
Career Home Run Leaders
1) Roberto Sanchez - 608
2) Armando Ruiz - 594
3) Eric William - 593
4) Sergio Munoz # - 590
5) Greg Ryan - 560
6) Jason Clair - 558
7) Maximo Gonzales - 556
8) Pascal Sisto - 515
9) Esteban Albizu # - 511
10) Joe Kaiser - 500
11) Howard McDonald - 494
12) Jose Mendoza # - 493
13) Jack Brown - 487
14) Luke Sutton # - 475
15) Will Middlebrooks - 463
16) Paul Foster - 462
17) Jim Green - 454
18) Jeremiah Harris - 450
19) Chris MacKinley - 448
20) Hector Sanchez - 447
21) Pedro Torres # - 440
