Astros signed Brendan Donnelly...a while ago.

So I totally missed this, until I perused Baseball America's transactions.

The Astros signed 37-year old pitcher Brendan Donnelly. And they also released Clay Hensley and 1B Eric Taylor.

Donnelly, you may remember, was with the Angels in the 2002 season in which they won the World Series and was an All-Star in 2003. And with the exception of 2008, he posted a sub-4.00 ERA in each season since, though he has only thrown 34.1IP at the Major League level since 2006. And he's already 1-0 with 7H/3ER, 3.86ERA / 1.29 WHIP, 7K:2BB in 7IP.

Hensley posted the following line this season at Round Rock:
10IP, 12H/8ER, 7.20ERA / 1.90WHIP, 5K:7BB.

Taylor, 23, was 5x27 at Lancaster this season for a .185/.333/.222 line in nine games for the JetHawks.

Round Rock got their homer on last night

I know I promised a weekly minor-league spot, but in the absence of a major-league game last night, I do want to point out that they started the season in The Rock last nigh, and the Express put the whoop on the Iowa Cubs.

Abercrombie, (My Friend) Mark Saccomanno, Bogusevic and Towles all hit home runs - Towles' and Bogusevic's homers came off prized Cubs prospect Jeff Samardasoasiohssfzzz. Felipe Paulino struck out six Iowa batters in five innings, leading the Express to a 10-4 win over Iowa. John Gall, playing in left field went 1-for-1 with three walks.

Hensley gave up three hits, four walks and four earned runs in 1.1 for the dent to the Express' ERA. Lumsden and Johnson each threw scoreless appearances, as well.

Nice start, fellas.

More Sayonara!

More cuts made today as the Astros trim down for Opening Day 2009 (or OD09, as it will now be known).

Pitchers Clay Hensley, Danny Graves and Neal Musser were reassigned to Minor League camp today. Graves has until Tuesday to accept the minor-league assignment and has been given permission to speak to other teams.

Says Graves: "I'm not really sure what I want to do yet. Coming into camp, this was the team I wanted to play for, and if it didn't work out here, then I felt like it was time for me to go home."

Hensley will be sent to Round Rock and prepare for a starting role.
Hensley will prepare to be a starter, but because he's versatile enough to pitch out of the 'pen as well, it's likely he'll be one of the first considered for a promotion if the Astros have a need this season.

John Gall and Matt Kata were also reassigned to Minor League camp as it's now obvious IF5 is between Jason Smith and Edwin Maysonet.

Bad news all around

"Blummy," as he is ridiculously known, has soreness in his back.

Oh yeah, and they sucked it up again today, this time losing 12-1 to the Mets, managing just five hits. Two from Chris Johnson, one from Bourn, Erstad and Abercrombie.

Now for your pitching lines:
Wandy: 2IP, 3H, 5R (1ER), 2BB, 1K
Hensley: 2IP, 3H, 3R (1ER), 0BB, 2K
Graves: 1IP, 4H, 3ER
de la Vara: 1IP, 3H, 1R (0ER)
Byrdak: 1IP, 1H, 1K
Wright: 1IP, 0H, 0R

Notice all those unearned runs? Today we had two Es from Tejada, one from Wandy and one from Chris Johnson.

Let's rundown the errors made this spring:
Smith: 4
Tejada: 4
Abercrombie: 3
Maysonet: 2
Newhan: 2
Backe: 1
Berkman: 1
Blum: 1
Bourn: 1
Fulchino: 1
Gall: 1
Johnson: 1
Kata: 1
Lee: 1
Manzella: 1
Wandy: 1
Saccomanno: 1
Wright: 1

That's 28 errors in 20 games. 124 runs given up, only 94 of them earned. 30 unearned runs. Who has been the "beneficiary" of these gifts to the opposite team? Moehler has six unearned runs; Wandy, Wesley, and Brad James have four.

In not-quite-a-stunner...

I think we all saw this coming, but Clay Hensley is officially out of the running for SP5 and is now a Bullpen candidate. And given that the bullpen is pretty much set, it's not looking good for Hensley.

Well, at least it wasn't a loss

The Astros have mastered the art of never letting a lead go unpunished. But there were some good, promising performances last night against the Nationals.

Jason Smith went 3x4, Quintero and Pence went 2x3 and Boone and Matsui each added a hit two provide the offense for the Astros.

Pitching line:
Hampton - 4IP, 3H, 4K (best performance of the Spring)
Hensley - 3IP, 4H, 2ER, 1K (it's saying something to give up two earned in three innings and have your ERA drop by almost nine points)
Wright - 1IP, 1H, 1K
Byrdak - 2IP, 1H, 1BB

Continuing the trend of sloppy defense, the Astros did commit three errors - one by Carlos Lee and two by Jason Smith.

"We can't go one stinking game without making an error," Cooper said, "and they're easy errors."

Astros see no reason to panic, because it's March

In a fire-extinguishing article in the Chronicle, the headline reads "Despite Spring struggles, Astros see no reason to panic" - but what else are they going to say? "Turn in your season ticket package for a 2005 Highlight DVD?"

The games have been, according to Easy Eddie, "sloppy and choppy" and this weekend the games should get more crisp as the leading candidates will get more opportunities to play.

There's a positive/negative aspect of the article. JJO lists these positives:

Mike Hampton's arm hasn't withered yet.
Russ Ortiz and Jose Capellan are making the Astros think.
Alberto Arias is good, too.

But here are the negatives:
Nieve, Paulino, Backe and Hensley really nutted it this spring.
And I'll go ahead and add that Astros catchers are 4x39 so far.

Anybody want to add anything to either column?

Notes from Alyson Footer's notes

Mailbag highlights:

-Footer does not see Clay Hensley making the team when camp breaks.
-She does make a good point that if Pudge hits .990 in the World Baseball Classic, that would price him out of the Astros' payroll (i.e., more than $2.13/hour).

Maybe they should be called the "Killer Ls"

Another day, another tail-smokin'. This time, once again, to the Pirates, 11-4.

At least there were seven hits, spread out over seven players: Bourn, Ramirez, Pence, Boone, Newhan, Gall and Palmisano (who started at C and went 1-for-3, with a double).

Five pitchers got in, after Backe went and strained his ribcage:
Hensley: 2IP, 2H, 3ER, 1BB, 1K
de la Vara: 1IP, 4H, 3ER, 1BB, 1K
Paronto: 2IP, 1H, 1BB
James: .1IP, 0H, 4R (1ER), 3BB
Lumsden: .2IP, 1H, 1ER, 2BB, 1K

The Astros made three more errors, this time by Bourn (1), Gall (1) and Sutton (2). And of the Astros' pitchers to throw in more than one game, only Paronto, Geary, Wright and Fulchino have ERAs under 3.00. And seven Astros pitchers have ERAs above 10.00: Lumsden (10.12), Norris (10.38), Nieve (11.25), de la Vara (12.27), Gervacio (13.50), Trinidad (18.00), Hensley (23.62).

However, Easy Eddie says to pump the brakes:
"I've seen teams have tremendous spring trainings and play really poorly out of the chute, and I've seen teams really struggle in Grapefruit League play and hit their stride the last week of the exhibition season and go from there," he said. "Hopefully at some point here in the next week to 10 days, the regulars will play more and stay in games longer and we're trying to get them to the point where they're ready to hit their strides."

This is a good point. Because basically, Corpus Christi and Round Rock are basically 1-8-1 this Spring Training. And about those ERAs, statistics get skewed when you're only talking about an inning here and two innings there.

We can also expect to see more guys get sent to minor league camp this week. Their names will be removed from the sidebar as they come in.

I'm tired, so I'll let Tags report this one

The Astros beat Panama 7-5 today.

Moehler didn't do so well, but Jason Michaels had three RBI and a homer. Clay Hensley also threw two scoreless innings.

Clay Hensley did not help his chances

Though, to be fair, the Astros didn't help him much, either. Clay Hensley gave up eight runs (four earned) on five hits and a walk in 2/3 of an inning. Though errors by Tejada, Abercrombie and Sutton did Hensley and Lumsden (who gave up three runs - two earned) in a little bit. Walking six batters didn't help. Only Gil de la Vara had a perfect outing in 1 IP as the Mets beat the Astros 13-1.

Nieve (who has no options - see? it's just funny now), allowed five baserunners in 2 IP.

Intrasquad highlights

From JJO's notes:

-Lou Palmisano hit a "monstrous" two-run home run off Clay Hensley

-Drew Sutton went 2-for-3 with a home run in the intrasquad game.

“Drew has a great idea at the plate,” manager Cecil Cooper said. “He has a little pop in his bat and can hit from both sides. We’re kind of trying to find a position for him because we know he can really hit.”

-Yordany Ramirez hit an inside-the-park home run to center off Brad James.

Astros sign pitcher Russ Oritz

The Astros signed pitcher Russ Ortiz to a minor-league deal today, reports the Chronicle.

Ortiz had double-digit wins in six straight seasons, from 1999-2004 for the Giants and Braves - including a 2003 season in which Ortiz went 21-7 and finished 4th in Cy Young balloting. Things kind of went to hell when he signed with the Diam'n'bac's, and then the Orioles. From 2005-2007 his ERA wasn't below 5.50. He has dealt with injuries - including Tommy John surgery - and missed all of 2008. However, says Easy Eddie:

Jack Lind, one of our pro scouts, saw Russ work out in September and was pleased with what he saw. By all accounts, Russ has rebounded well from Tommy John surgery, and we have no doubt that a healthy Russ Ortiz should be able to come to camp and be a serious contender for a spot in the big league rotation. He’ll have every opportunity in Spring Training to win a job.

You know who's crapping their pants right now? Brandon Backe. Count 'em, that's three pitchers not in the rotation who are competing for a spot: Easy Eddie mentioned Wesley Wright could be a candidate, as will Clay Hensley and now Ortiz. Don't forget Sampson can start, too. Backe needs to be perfect this spring training to stay in the rotation.

Astros sign five to minor-league contracts

Press release from the Astros today as they invited five players to spring training with a minor league contract:

OFs Reggie Abercrombie & John Gall,
RHP Clay Hensley
INFs Mark Saccomanno & Jason Smith

Smith has spent time in the Majors here and there since 2001 with the Cubs, Rays (back when the Devil was a part of their handle), Tigers, Rockies, Blue Jays, D'm'ndback' and Royals. Smith was non-tendered by the...yep, Royals on December 12 in order to clear room for Horacio Ramirez. He was a PCL All-Star in 2008.

Just so we're clear, Ed Wade has picked up the following players this off-season whose services were no longer required by Kansas City: Gil de la Vara, Tyler Lumsden, Jeff Fulchino, now Jason Smith.

Enjoy Kissimmee, fellas!

Astros sign Clay Hensley

Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post is reporting the Astros signed right-handed pitcher Clay Hensley to a one-year, $550,000 deal.

Hensley is 29 and the Padres used him in a set-up, relief role. In 32 games in 2008 (39 innings), Hensley posted a 5.31 ERA, 1.56 WHIP with 26 Ks to 25 BBs. Righties hit .221 off him - lefties hit .288.

As I've mentioned, it's not hard for a reliever to run up a huge ERA, so let's take a closer look at him.

July 2008:
Hensley gets a start at Pittsburgh and gives up six earned in five innings. Boom.
He makes one other appearance in which he gives up a run.

August:
13 appearances - gives up earned runs in three (doesn't record an out on Aug 27, giving up two runs.

September:
12 appearances - earned runs in six. Includes a Sept 1-11 run where he gives up runs in three of four games.

So we're talking about a guy who blanked the opposistion in 21 of the 32 games in which he pitched. Take out that spot start and his ERA drops to 4.63.

Now this is interesting: When used on consecutive days, Hensley posted an ERA of 11.81. When given a day off in between appearances, his ERA dropped to 2.08 and batters hit .161 against him. When given two days off, his ERA was 2.70. On 3-5 days rest, Hensley's ERA was 9.82.

So use him often, just don't use him everyday. The middle of the order teed off on him. 3-4-5 hitters went 14-for-39 (.359 average) off him, too.

$550,000 is low-risk, high-reward. Another sub-radar move, no splash, but could be solid throughout the season.