Alyson Footer tells us that the Astros have purchased the contracts of Fernando Abad and Wladimir Sutil, and have added them to the 40-man roster.
Both players are doing well in Winter Ball.
In the Dominican Winter League, Abad has started three games with a line of:
15IP, 9H/3ER, 9K:4BB, 1.80 ERA/0.87 WHIP, and 3HBPs, with a .180 BAA
And in the Venezuelan Winter League, Sutil is hitting:
16x53 (.302/.321/.358), 3XBH-4RBI, 1K:1BB. Although one walk in 53ABs is a smidge low...
The Astros are saying this rounds out the 40-man roster. And it does, kind of. On the 40-man roster page, there are 37 players (as we noted earlier today). However, this also includes Mike Hampton - whose "**" indicates at the bottom of the page, "Not on 40-man roster." So is it semantics? Sure. Is it contradictory? Sure.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
