Happy Birthday - 3/19

No future Astros with birthdays today, but several former Astros celebrate ~

UT Matt Downs (31)
Originally drafted by the Giants in the 36th round in 2006 out of the University of Alabama, Downs became an Astro after being claimed off waivers in August of 2010. In three seasons with the Astros, he hit .235/.298/.432 in 208 games and played at 2B, 3B, 1B, RF, SS and LF. He was also the emergency catcher but was never called upon in that capacity.

3B/2B Jose Castillo (34)
Claimed off waivers from the Giants in 2008, Castillo played in 15 games for Houston that year, hitting .281/.314/.313. In 2014, he played in the Mexican League.

UT Chuck Jackson (52)
Drafted by Houston in the seventh round in 1984, Jackson played in 81 games for Houston in 1987 and 1988, hitting .218/.281/.321. In 12 seasons in the minors, he hit .288/.369/.426.

Happy Birthday - 3/19

No future Astros with birthdays today, but several former Astros celebrate ~

UT Matt Downs (30)
Originally drafted by the Giants in the 36th round in 2006 out of the University of Alabama, Downs became an Astro after being claimed off waivers in August of 2010. In three seasons with the Astros, he hit .235/.298/.432 in 208 games and played at 2B, 3B, 1B, RF, SS and LF. He was also the emergency catcher but was never called upon in that capacity. Downs played in the Marlins minor league system in 2013.

3B/2B Jose Castillo (33)
Claimed off waivers from the Giants in 2008, Castillo played in 15 games for Houston that year, hitting .281/.314/.313. In 2013, he played for Puebla in the Mexican League.

UT Chuck Jackson (51)
Drafted by Houston in the seventh round in 1984, Jackson played in 81 games for Houston in 1987 and 1988, hitting .218/.281/.321. In 12 seasons in the minors, he hit .288/.369/.426.

Happy Birthday - 3/19

No future Astros, only former Astros with birthdays today ~

UT Matt Downs (29)
Originally drafted by the Giants in the 36th round in 2006 out of the University of Alabama, Downs became an Astro after being claimed off waivers in August of 2010. In three seasons with the Astros, he hit .235/.298/.432 in 208 games and played at 2B, 3B, 1B, RF, SS and LF. He was also the emergency catcher but was never called upon in that capacity. Downs was signed as a free agent by the Marlins back in January.

3B/2B Jose Castillo (32)
Claimed off waivers from the Giants in 2008, Castillo played in 15 games for Houston that year, hitting .281/.314/.313. In 2012, he played for Veracruz in the Mexican League.

UT Chuck Jackson (50)
Drafted by Houston in the seventh round in 1984, Jackson played in 81 games for Houston in 1987 and 1988, hitting .218/.281/.321. In 12 seasons in the minors, he hit .288/.369/.426.

Astros Sign Free Agent LHP Erik Bedard

It was announced by the Astros on Monday that they had signed LHP Erik Bedard to a minor league contract with a Spring Training invite. Bedard, who will turn 34 in March, pitched for the Pirates in 2012 and compiled a 7-14 record with a 5.01 ERA and a 1.472 WHIP before being released in August.

I believe that Bedard was signed as insurance in case lefties Dallas Keuchel, Brett Oberholtzer and Rudy Owens don't show GM Jeff Luhnow what he needs to see in Spring Training. Bedard could serve as a back of the rotation starter and a veteran presence on the young staff and he brings knowledge of American League hitters with him, having pitched 8 of his 9 seasons with American League teams. He could serve as a place-holder until the young pitchers are ready for prime time. With that said, if I were Keuchel, Oberholtzer or Owens, I would be going to Spring Training with a chip on my shoulder ready to take the job away from Bedard. I think that's what Luhnow wants too.

In other news, C Landon Powell, a free agent who played for Oklahoma City in 2012, signed with the Mets and will be going to Spring Training with them as a non-roster invitee. Also, it was rumored that IF Matt Downs is going to sign with the Marlins, but I haven't seen confirmation of that yet. I have updated the Off-Season Transaction list to reflect these changes.

Roster Moves

A couple of additional releases were on the Baseball America transactions list from yesterday that weren't on  my list from last week:

RHP Rodney Quintero
LHP Gabriel Garcia
LHP Kilby Pena

They also noted that OF J.B. Shuck and IF Matt Downs asked for and were granted their releases.

Roster Moves

In addition to yesterday afternoon's news that Jordan Schafer has been claimed off waivers by Atlanta, the Astros announced several other moves last night.

RHP Kyle Weiland was outrighted to Oklahoma City. LHP Fernando Abad, LHP Sergio Escalona, RHP Edgar Gonzalez and RHP Jose Valdez were also outrighted to Oklahoma City but are unrestricted free agents. (It was also noted that IF Matt Downs, who had been removed from the 40-man roster a couple days ago, is an unrestricted free agent as well.) Only two of these players were on the 40-man roster since Weiland and Escalona were on the 60-day DL so this effectively brought the running total down to 34 on the 40-man roster.

Two players, however, were added to the 40-man roster bring it back up to 36. RHP Sam Demel and 2B/SS Jake Elmore were claimed off waivers from the Diamondbacks. The 25-year old Demel, a third round draft pick by Oakland in 2007 and a native of Channelview, Texas, had significant major league experience with the Diamondbacks in 2010 and 2011, but made only one appearance at the major league level in 2012. In 72 major league appearances, he has a 4.95 ERA and a 1.586 WHIP out of the bullpen. In 56 appearances for AAA Reno this season, he had a 4.07 ERA and a 1.236 WHIP. Elmore, also 25, was a 34th round pick by Arizona in 2008. He spent the majority of his season at Reno as well, hitting .344/.422/.465 with 30 doubles, nine triples, one home run and 32 stolen bases in 108 games. He walked 74 times to 54 strikeouts. Elmore got his first call-up to the bigs on August 11th and hit .191/.247/.250 in 30 games.

I will update my ongoing list of off-season transactions (that I have linked on the front page) later today.

Roster Moves

Houston/Oklahoma City
3B Brandon Laird was claimed off waivers from the Yankees and assigned to Houston.
CF Jordan Schafer was activated from the DL.
IF/OF Matt Downs was recalled from Oklahoma City to Houston.
RHP Jose Valdez was called up to Houston.
RF Adam Bailey was assigned from Corpus Christi to Oklahoma City.

Roster Moves - 6/9

Oklahoma City
UT Matt Downs was recalled to Houston from Oklahoma City.
OF Jacob Goebbert was assigned from Corpus Christi to Oklahoma City.
RHP Armando Galarraga was assigned from Lexington  to Oklahoma City.

Corpus Christi
OF Drew Locke's contract was purchased from the Sugarland Skeeters and was assigned to Corpus Christi.

Lexington
RHP Luis Ordosgoitti was activated from the DL.

Roster Moves - 6/2

Oklahoma City
OF Fernando Martinez optioned to Houston to replace OF Travis Buck who went to the DL.
RHP Jordan Lyles recalled to Houston.
UT Matt Downs optioned to Oklahoma City.

Lexington
RHP Richard Rodriguez assigned from the GCL Astros to Lexington.
1B Jesse Wierzbicki assigned from Lexington to Tri-City.

There are additional moves forthcoming late today. I will post those as soon as I am at liberty to do so.

Happy Birthday - 3/19

UT Matt Downs (28)
Originally drafted by the Giants in the 36th round in 2006 out of the University of Alabama, Downs became an Astro after being claimed off of waivers in August of 2010.  Downs was put to good use in 2011, playing at 2B, 3B, 1B, RF and SS (and pinch-hitting) in 106 games.  His batting line was .276/.347/.518/.864 with 18 doubles and ten home runs over 199 at-bats.

C Landon Powell (30)
The newest Astro, Powell was signed only last week after being released by the Oakland A's.  A first round draft pick by Oakland out of the University of South Carolina in 2004, Powell has only played in 123 games over three seasons in the major leagues with a .207/.284/.328 batting line and a 40% caught stealing percentage.  In the minor leagues, he has hit .256/.362/.430 to date, with a 47% caught stealing percentage.  His health issues were well-documented in this excellent article by Steve Campbell.  Also interesting is this Baseball-Reference piece about earlier attempts to sign Powell as a free agent back in 2000.

Former Astros with birthdays today ~

3B/2B Jose Castillo (31)
Claimed off waivers from Houston in 2008, Castillo played in 15 games for Houston that year, hitting .281/.314/.313/.627.  In 2011, he played in Mexico and Japan.

UT Chuck Jackson (49)
Drafted by Houston in the 7th round in 1984, Jackson played in 81 games for Houston in 1987 and 1988, hitting .218/.281/.321.  In 12 seasons in the minors, he hit .288/.369/.426.