SARAPEROS LOADING UP FOR STRETCH RUN

With less than a month to go until the playoffs begin, the defending LMB champion Saltillo Saraperos have added a pair of players they hope will increase their chances for a second consecutive pennant. One of the new additions is a former big league starting pitcher, the other a veteran infielder.

Jose Mercedes (pictured), a 39-year-old former Brewers and Orioles pitcher, is back in Saltillo after being a major contributor to last season’s title effort by going 5-0 in nine starts with 20 strikeouts in 51.1 innings. The Dominican right-hander went 14-7 for Baltimore in 2000, his best season in the majors during an eight-year career in which he finished 33-39 with a 4.75 ERA. Mercedes replaces closer Miguel Saladin, a fellow Dominican righty who was 0-5 with 18 saves (5th in the LMB) and a 6.19 ERA in 36 games.

The Saraperos also traded the rights to outfielder Jose de Jesus Munoz to Veracruz for veteran infielder Jose Amador. The 30-year-old Amador is in his eleventh Liga season, batting .306 with 59 homers over 775 games. In 2006, the Mexicali product hit .368 with nine homers for Laguna and was picked for the All-Star Game in 2007 en route to a .308 season for the Vaqueros. Amador brings a .306 season average to Saltillo, where he may replace weak-hitting shortstop Carlos Eduardo Gonzalez, who is only batting .247 with no homers and 12 RBIs in 67 games for the champions.

Munoz is on loan to Reynosa, where he’s batting .213, but will report to Veracruz next year.

TOMATEROS ADD JOSE MERCEDES FOR PLAYOFF RUN

The Culiacan Tomateros have solidified their starting rotation for the 2010 LMP playoffs by adding former major league pitcher Jose Mercedes to the roster. The 38-year-old righty had a 14-7 record for the Baltimore Orioles in 2000, and finished his major league career with a 33-39 record and 4.75 ERA after pitching for the O’s, Milwaukee and Montreal between 1994 and 2003. More recently, Mercedes has pitched summer ball for Puebla and Saltillo in the Mexican League, going 5-0 in nine starts with a 4.91 ERA for the champion Saraperos last season.

Mercedes had been pitching for the Licey Tigres in the Dominican League this winter, turning in a 2-1 record and 2.25 ERA in six games before getting permission to join Culiacan just prior to the end of the Mex Pac regular season. In his lone start for the Tomateros before they opened their playoff series with Mazatlan, Mercedes pitched four innings of 1-run, 3-hit ball in Navojoa on December 29 in a 1-0 loss to the Mayos.

Mercedes will fill out Culiacan manager Paquin Estrada’s starting rotation, along with Hector Rodriguez, Jorge Campillo, Rodrigo Lopez and Runelvys Hernandez. While Rodriguez is the only starter without major league experience, he is the only Tomateros pitcher with more than three wins. New York Yankees pitcher Alfredo Aceves had hoped to pitch for Culiacan in the playoffs, but was shut down by the Yanks after experiencing soreness in his lower back.