Roster Moves

1B Nate Freiman was claimed off waivers by Oakland on Saturday, a move that wasn't totally unexpected as the Astros didn't have the luxury of keeping Freiman on the roster in addition to 1B Carlos Pena and 1B Brett Wallace (not to mention Chris Carter whose natural position is first base). It was widely reported that GM Jeff Luhnow tried to work a deal to keep Freiman and put him on a minor league contract, but the Rule 5 draft pick was instead claimed off waivers.

Nate Freiman

Photo by Jayne Hansen

The Astros are also going to have to clear a couple (or more) 40-man roster spots if they intend to break camp with Rick Ankiel and Erik Bedard (or even possibly Brandon Laird) since none of those players are currently on the 40-man. So, color me surprised when the 40-man vacancy was immediately gobbled up by the imminent signing of SS Ronny Cedeno who was recently released by the Cardinals. The move does not bode well for the future of Tyler Greene who has struggled during Spring Training.

In addition, according to Baseball America, the Astros signed OF Raoul Torrez to a minor league contract. Torrez was recently released by the Diamondbacks organization.

Finally, although I haven't seen any official confirmation of this, I have been told by a source that Erick Abreu and Adalberto Flores have signed to play in Mexico and that Henry Villar is out of baseball. Abreu and Villar pitched out of the bullpen for Corpus Christi last season and Flores split his time between Corpus Christi and Oklahoma City. Again, I have no independent confirmation of this.

I have also updated the Off-Season Transaction List, which I have neglected for the last couple of weeks.