Tranzactionz

While Astros County has been placed on a strict "no phone" policy for the holiday, we give a big captip to Appy Astros for the link to the latest transactions from Baseball America.

Re-signed P Edwin Walker

Released:
RHP Rafael Feliz
RHP John Frawley
RHP Justin Harper
RHP Ashton Mowdy
RHP Daniel Sarisky
RHP Mike Schurz
LHP David Duncan
1B Aaron Bray
1B Mark Ori
1B Nick Stanley
3B Ricardo Garcia
OF Frank Almonte
OF Ricardo Heredia

Obviously the one that hits hardest for us is the releasing of Our Boy Aaron Bray.

File under: Previous Information

MLB.com has a non-McTaggart story up on the long, slow rebuild:

And here's the thing: Astros fans would be wise not to get too far ahead of themselves. There's a reason clubs are hesitant to rebuild. It's a long, slow, painful process. You don't just decide one year to go young, and win 95 games the next year.

Even considering the late surge in 2010, things could be difficult for the Astros in '11. A lot must go right for them to have enough offense to contend. Happ is a useful pitcher, but he's no Oswalt. This is not a team that will be favored to hang with the Reds and Cardinals in the division next season.

But that doesn't mean it's the wrong course.

Wait. What? We won't win 140 games next year? Pshaw. Go back to covering the Cardinals.

40-man roster additions

So as the Astros gear up for the Rule 5 draft (in which other teams can poach other teams' players), the Astros have added some guys to the 40-man roster:

RHP David Carpenter
RHP Jorge DeLeon
RHP Arcenio Leon
2B Jimmy Paredes

And have thus been protected from the Rule 5 draft

Jim Pankovits gets a promotion, just not with the Astros

Tri-City Manager Jim Pankovits has left the Astros organization, accepting a Double-A managerial position with Seattle's affiliate in Jackson, TN.

Tom Lawless gets hisself a promotion

2010's Lancaster manager Tom Lawless has been promoted to the same position with Double-A Corpus Christi.

He'll be joined by pitching coach Don Alexander, who comes up from Lancaster; and hitting coach Stubby Clapp, who gets a promotion from Lexington.

And in a related note, the Astros announced that they have hired Larry Prado - who signed Ryan Braun for Milwaukee - to scout central and south Florida.

Astros interested in Brandon McCarthy

Fox Sports' Jon Paul Morosi says that the Astros are interested in former top pitching prospect Brandon McCarthy.

Morosi:
When healthy, McCarthy was effective this season at Class AAA Oklahoma City in the Texas organization (4-2, 3.36 ERA). But a stress fracture in his right shoulder limited him to just 56 1/3 innings. That is the same injury that hampered his throwing arm in the past.

First Ownership Rumor of the Off-season

Apologies for the lack of posting this weekend. Don't buy a Gateway. That's the Moral of the Weekend.

Anyhow, with a captip to Bernie's Crew, we read that Miles Prentice - owner of Milwaukee's Double-A Huntsville Stars - is interested in buying the Astros:

Drayton:
"I did not know him well. He just contacted me and came down, seven-eight months ago, and he said if I could raise the funds to buy the Astros would you consider it and I said sure. He has a great reputation. He owns (three) minor league teams and has owned minor league teams for 15 years and has a good reputation in the minor leagues and people think highly of him and so I said if you can show me you have the financial wherewithal to do it, he hasn't done that."

This is obviously a poorly-punctuated sentence, but you get the drift. Before getting excited, read Bernie's Crew's take:
The Huntsville Stars have routinely been harassed by the Brewers for not putting money into their facilities. If a man with that type of attitude wishes to purchase the Astros, be my guest.

Note: Kirk Bohls predicted this sequence at the beginning of November.