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.

Astros Winter League Cumulative Stats - Pitchers

The regular seasons are over for all of the winter season leagues except for the Australian Baseball League so let's take a look at how your Astros did. Today, let's look at the pitchers. To me, there were two real standouts among them.

RHP Nick Tropeano (Arizona Fall League)

Tropeano pitched out of the bullpen to minimize his innings after having pitched 158 innings during the regular season. After putting together a very successful season at Lexington and Lancaster, he continued to impress in the AFL. His 1.00 WHIP was tied for sixth and he held some of the best prospects in the minor leagues to a .189 batting average.

RHP Carlos Quevedo (Liga Paralela & Venezuelan Winter League)

Quevedo was credited with helping the championship Liga Paralela Magallanes team make it to the playoffs. His dominance in the Liga Paralela led to a call-up to play for the main Magallanes team where he made one successful appearance before the regular season ended. Quevedo's 1.38 ERA led the Liga Paralela for pitchers pitching a minimum of 30 innings and he continued to put together a very healthy strikeout to walk ratio.

Others of Note

I was happy to see RHP Chia-Jen Lo continue his comeback from surgery with a successful AFL season. Several 2012 Astros who are currently free agents had good seasons as well, particularly RHP Sergio Perez who led the Venezuelan Winter League in wins and was tied for second in WHIP and strikeouts. Free agents  Erick Abreu, Adalberto Flores and Enerio del Rosario also had strong campaigns.

And finally, after having mixed results out of the bullpen for Carolina in the Puerto Rican Winter League, 21-year old RHP Raul Rivera finished off his season with an excellent seven-inning start for Carolina. After missing all of 2011, Rivera put up some strong numbers for the GCL in 2012. It may not sound like much, but the combination of those two factors intrigues me enough that I will be paying closer attention to Rivera in 2013.

Here are the full regular season stats for all Astros pitchers participating in winter league play. Cameron Lamb is the only player whose team hasn't finished the regular season.

*Free Agent

Next Up: I'll be looking at the position players on Wednesday.

Happy Birthday - 11/4

RHP Adalberto Flores (26)
Flores was originally drafted by the Marlins in the 32nd round in 2005 out of Puerto Rico and spent time in the Rangers organization before signing with the Astros as a free agent in November of 2011. Flores split his time between Corpus Christi and Oklahoma City in 2012 with a combined ERA of 7.58 and a WHIP of 1.745.

Former Astros with birthdays today ~

C Mark Bailey (51)
A sixth round pick for Houston in 1982, Bailey played for the Astros from 1984 to 1988 before being traded to the Montreal Expos for Casey Candaele in 1988. In 322 games for Houston, he hit .223/.340/.340. Since retiring from playing, Bailey has been a coach in the Astros system.  He served as bullpen coach for the Astros from 2002 to 2009 and has since functioned as the hitting coach for Corpus Christi in 2010 and the hitting coach for Tri-City in 2011 and 2012.

OF Ryan Thompson (45)
Originally drafted by the Blue Jays in the 13th round in 1987, Thompson came to Houston as a free agent in January 1999. In 12 games for the Astros that season, he hit .200/.273/.400.

RHP Ezequiel Astacio (33)
Astacio came to Houston as part of the November 2003 Philadelphia trade for Billy Wagner. In 28 games (14 starts) for the Astros in 2005 and 2006, he was 5-6 with a 6.02 ERA and a 1.592 WHIP. Astacio never made it back to the major leagues but was still pitching in Independent League ball up through 2011.

Roster Moves

Houston/Oklahoma City
RHP Edgar Gonzalez was called up from Oklahoma City to Houston.
RHP Adalberto Flores was assigned from Corpus Christi to Oklahoma City.

Roster Moves

Corpus Christi
RHP Adalberto Flores was sent to the 7-day DL.

Roster Moves - 4/28

OKC
RHP Paul Clemens was activated from the DL.
RHP Adalberto Flores was assigned from CC to OKC.
LHP Brett Oberholtzer was assigned from CC to OKC.

CC
RHP Josh Zeid was activated from the DL.'
LHP Alex Sogard was assigned from LAN to CC.

The corresponding move for activating Jordan Lyles from OKC to Houston will have to be made today.

Roster Moves - 4/14

OKC
RHP Adalberto Flores optioned to Corpus Christi from Oklahoma City
LHP Xavier Cedeno activated from the 7-day DL

According to J.P. Shadrick, announcer for the Redhawks, Brett Wallace left Saturday's game early with a left oblique strain.  No further details available.

Roster Moves - 11/9/11

The Astros signed three minor league players

RHP Adalberto Flores
Flores just turned 25 and at 6'7" is described by Baseball America as having a "tremendous plane on his low 90's fastball."  He is currently pitching in the Puerto Rican League.  I will start following him for the Winter League updates.

OF Travis Buck (with an invite to Spring Training)
Buck will be 28 next week.

1B Nick Stavinoha (with an invite to Spring Training)
Stavinoha is from Houston and will be 30 in May.

Here is the story from Brian McTaggart and from Zachary Levine and Steve Campbell.