Moonshiners Monitor, Vol. 1.6

[lchronister]

After signing catcher Lemuel Mattis to a three-year extension just after the the 1996 season, the Greenville Moonshiners turned their backstop attention to the starting lineup, hoping to find someone solid defensively and even better with the bat to replace Robin Larker as the team's primary catcher.

With the free-agent market devoid of anyone truly attention-grabbing, the Moonshiners started looking around the league's trade blocks to see if they could find someone to acquire via a deal, rather than having to outbid another team for someone lackluster.

Fortunately for new general manager Levi Chronister, Austin was more than happy to deal young backstop Tadeo Merido, packaging the 27-year-old with pitcher Ramon Audelo and $500,000 for minor-league pitcher Howard Feldmann.

"We're of the opinion that Merido is ready to play in the majors," Chronister said, "and so is he, so we're ecstatic to acquire him and another major-league-ready arm fairly cheaply."

Merido's path to the majors in Austin was blocked by 26-year-old Dave Nilsson, 22-year-old Paul Barfoot and 25-year-old John Behnke. He's a sloth on the basepaths, but he is a solid enough hitter (16/15/10/8/16) to be a .290 hitter with 15-20 home runs, according to some GMs.

Audelo is Chronister's type of pitcher -- decent stuff (8/4), good movement (13/7) and control (16/8), groundball tendencies (68%) -- and could see time in Greenville as soon as this year. His strong stamina would make him a solid long-relief guy out of the bullpen or maybe even a fifth starter depending on other moves the team may make and how the overload of relievers already on the roster shakes out. He was 1-1 with a 3.91 ERA and 1.38 WHIP in 13 games (1 start) with Austin last year after going 9-5 with a 2.94 ERA and 1.11 WHIP in 27 games (22 starts) with AAA Santo Domingo.

Feldman was the Moonshiners' second-ranked prospect thanks to 6/8/7 talents, 20 stamina and three potentially solid pitches. The righty went 11-12 with a 4.11 ERA and 1.32 WHIP last year for AA Krugerville as a 22-year-old.

"We didn't want to give up Howard," Chronister said, "as he's a smart, hard-working pitcher who keeps the ball in the park and the strike zone. But he's a couple years off and the possibility of getting a starting catcher who won't cost us much and another young pitcher for the bullpen or the back of the rotation made far too much sense to worry about how good Howard might be in the future."

[ronzonie7]

Odds are, a guy like Larkin is going to get his AB's. Some of the best power in the majors. I like Menudo, but don't think he'll be good enough to handle 450 PA's.

[lchronister]

Odds are, a guy like Larkin is going to get his AB's. Some of the best power in the majors. I like Menudo, but don't think he'll be good enough to handle 450 PA's.

Larkin? Menudo? Are you drunk already Ron?

I would have re-signed Larker instead of Mattis in a heartbeat, but he wouldn't even talk extension.

[lchronister]

I like Menudo, but don't think he'll be good enough to handle 450 PA's.

Well, thanks to free agency, he won't have to