All kinds of tranzactionz

Big goings on today in Astros camp as the regular season gets down-under way (get it?). As an aside, I had every intention of watching the season opener at 3am. I went to bed at a reasonable time, and the daughter woke up at 2:30. I got her taken care of, and put her back down at 2:45, sat on the couch ready to go and...fell asleep. Woke up at 7:00. Any of y'all watch?

Anyhow, let's run down everything that has happened in the last 15 hours.

*Peter Moylan tore his UCL, and is likely headed for another Tommy John surgery (he had a first in 2008).

*The Astros optioned lefty reliever Darin Downs to OKC and reassigned Gregorio Petit and Japhet Amador to minor-league camp. As Drellich noted, if the Astros are going to have a 2nd lefty out of the bullpen (assuming Kevin Chapman is the primary lefty), it's going to be Raul Valdez - who doesn't have any options left. It also looks likely that Jesus Guzman and Marc Krauss are going to make the team.

*The Astros released J.D. Martinez.

Martinez was supposed to have a relatively high salary for a Triple A player this year. Said might have spooked teams, but can negotiate now
— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) March 22, 2014

This saddens me. Because for a couple of years it was really fun to do the minor-league recaps, as Martinez pretty much always hit. From 2009-11 Martinez never posted a minor-league OPS under .939. But it just didn't translate to the Majors. Martinez had a .742 OPS in his major-league debut, but declined to .685 in 2012 and .650 in 2013.

Astros sign Peter Moylan to minor-league deal

There was this:

Peter Moylan agrees to terms with Astros per source. Minor league deal includes invite to MLB spring training
— Ben Nicholson-Smith (@bnicholsonsmith) November 23, 2013

And then this:

Excited for the next chapter. @astros
— Peter Moylan (@PeterMoylan) November 23, 2013

Which is just about all the confirmation you need. So, this Peter Moylan.  He'll be 35 next week (December 2) and will be a free agent in 2015. He was the Freaking Man for the Braves out of their bullpen in 2007, 2009 and 2010, throwing at least 60IP with a sub-3.00 ERA in each of those seasons.

He missed almost all of 2008 after a bone spur screwed up his UCL and he needed Tommy John surgery. Then in 2011 he needed back surgery and, when he came back, tore his rotator cuff. He only threw 5IP in 2012 (22.2IP in the Minors) and signed a 1-year deal with the Dodgers for 2013. In 46IP for Albuquerque, he posted a 2.74 ERA/1.26 WHIP, but that didn't exactly translate to Major-League success: in 15.1IP for LAD, he allowed 23H/11ER, 6K:7BB (with most of the damage coming in 2IP in a June 28 16-1 loss to Philadelphia, when he allowed 5H/5ER, 0K:1BB.

Whatever. I've always liked Peter Moylan. He's funny on Twitter. And he's the low-risk/(potential) high-reward signing that have come to characterize the 2008-2012 Baseball Astros.