Date: SUN 12/12/99
Section: SPORTS
Page: 16
Edition: 2 STAR
The Astros re-signed catcher Tony Eusebio to a two-year contract. This is absolutely wonderful news. The plan last year seemed pretty obvious. A risk was taken by letting Brad Ausmus go and replacing him with rookie Mitch Meluskey. By not keeping Ausmus, the Astros opened up salary room, which is good. They basically replaced Ausmus with the combination of Eusebio and Meluskey, with Tony acting as mentor to Mitch as he comes up to speed on handling pitchers and calling games at the major-league level. The experiment included the one-year contract for Eusebio, which seemed reasonable given that Meluskey should be seasoned by 2000.
Well, the experiment failed. But not because Meluskey couldn't handle the job. Actually, we never got a chance to find out after Meluskey's shoulder failed him.
So here we are a year later. We're still wondering if Meluskey is true major-league material behind the plate. But Eusebio's contract is up. We can't really afford to trade for a big-name catcher (Dave Nilsson?); the plan is still for Meluskey to be the future. But now Eusebio's not around to train him! And Paul Bako really isn't seen as being capable of that same role, so what to do?
Re-sign Tony! I didn't think they'd be able to afford to do this, what with the dearth of catchers on the market. I was worried that Eusebio's price would be too high. But evidently the deal was possible, and for that I'm really glad. This resets the original Eusebio/Meluskey dynamic duo plan from last season.
I was really worried about the hole behind the plate for 2000. I didn't feel that Bako and Meluskey were a good enough combination. Eusebio is the absolute best answer from a pitcher-handling, salary, team cohesiveness and performance point of view. Tony's a great guy, a team guy, and we're lucky to have him back. Kudos to Gerry Hunsicker!
OK, Gerry, so what's going to be the rabbit from your hat at shortstop?
Steve Cutchen
Houston