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As indicated on this Alyson Footer video interview with Brad Mills, Jimmy Paredes was sent to minor league camp and will begin practice as a second baseman. Mills said a lot of internal discussion and debate occurred before arriving at this decision. This isn't totally unexpected, though the position change might be a surprise. It's also worth noting the other players who were sent to minor league camp today: Cedeno, Aneury Rodriguez, Valdez, Snyder, and Fernando Martinez

In case anyone wants to comment on the second spring training game, here is a place to do so.

This is a surprise. Sure, a few fans mentioned it every once in awhile. But, given that his best trait is pitching deep in games, it didn't seem likely. Pros: Opens up a starter slot for a deep group of candidates; experienced pitcher who has a closer mentality with runners on base. Cons: No longer has the fstball velocity that he exhibited in earlier days as a closer.

The Astros picked up a free agent catcher, Chris Snyder, who also happens to be an ex-UH player. When Tatum was moved off the 40 man two days ago, I said we should expect a move to pick up a catcher in the future. I didn't realize it would be this quick. This is a very interesting move. It's a 1 year contract with a mutual option for next year.

Barry Larkin gets into HOF on third try. Not a big surprise; it didn't appear that Bags had the votes this time around. But his vote percentage increased over the prior year----there's that.

The Astros hired Sig Mejdal, a Cardinals' baseball operations person, as director of decisions sciences. Mejdal was director of amateur baseball analytics with the Cardinals and will be in charge of developing data to be integrated into team decisions. Stephanie Wilka, a Harvard and Pepperdine Law School graduate, was hired as amateur scouting coordinator, replacing Mike Burns, who is now working for the Blue Jays. Wilka previously worked for the Dodgers and Red Sox.

This article is worth linking, if for no other reason, that it quotes from comments at TCB. Pointing to new GM hires like Luhnow and Epstein, the article suggests that it is becoming increasingly difficult for small market teams to gain an advantage based on hiring a smart GM, alone, because...almost .all teams are catching up by recognizing the need for saavy GMs.

This isn't a surprise, really. But, given Towles' history as a touted prospect, it's worth a fanshot. A change of scenery might help Towles. The new GM, Jeff Luhnow, is concerned by Jason Castro's injury and may look for more major league catching depth, according to this article.

Astros' catcher Jason Castro, already trying to come back from knee surgery last year, injured his foot in winter ball and will undergo surgery. Castro believes that the stress of coming back from the knee injury contributed to his foot injury. If all goes well, Castro is expected to resume action sometime in spring training.

Fangraphs' broadcasts its interview with Chron.com's Zachary Levine, focusing on his view of the Astros and the GM search.

Examiner's Stephen Goff has a good interview with Brandon Puffer, an ex-astros' rellief pitcher. I didn't realize that Puffer is serving a 5 year prison sentence. Puffer talks about his former baseball life and the dream of becoming a knuckleballer after he gets out of prison. Kudos to Goff for an interesting story and some hope that Puffer can turn his life around.

The Astros claimed Nationals bench player Brian Bixler off waivers. Bixler plays almost every position on the field, getting the most experience in the outfield and shortstop. The 29 year old Bixler has a strange offensive pattern of good production in the minors but poor batting at the major league level. Reportedly he is a good fielder who runs well. But his sub-.600 OPS last year with the Nats doesn't speak well for his bat. Bixler has been exchanged among ML organizations a number of times. He was released from the Nationals in 2010 to make room for Anderson Hernandez---who is also in the Astros' organization now.