Horns247 Board

--C Jason Castro will be worked in slowly this spring training even when he is fully recovered from foot surgery, which the club expects to be the second week of spring training. Castro will be joined by Chris Snyder, Humberto Quintero and Carlos Corporan on the camp roster, and his progress will determine how many of those make the club as management has gone back and forth on the possibility of three catchers. "It's going to be slow going with (Castro) for a while, and that's not necessarily bad because we're going to see a lot of Snyder and Q and Corporan," manager Brad Mills said.

--C Chris Snyder put on his No. 18 Astros uniform for the first time at the club's FanFest. The Houston native and University of Houston alum admitted that even when he was in Arizona and Pittsburgh, he had half an eye on playing in Texas some day. "Deep down you're always going to want to be part of your hometown team," Snyder said.

--OF Jason Bourgeois, one of the Astros' three Houston natives, was not going to be on board with a name change to his childhood local team. But he was on board with owner Jim Crane's tease of a name change, since revoked. "It shocked me at first," Bourgeois said. "I was like, 'What, name change?' and then I had to think about it. It's a great marketing strategy, you have everybody going, riled up a little bit. It showed how many fans cared."

--RHP Livan Hernandez was the subject of a wage garnishment filing in Miami-Dade County, Fla. Suntrust Bank has filed for the Astros to withhold nearly a half million dollars in salary, matching a filing against the Nationals last year when Hernandez was with them. At issue are two lines of credit, plus interest and attorney's costs and fees totaling $469,387.22.

--Former All-Star 2B Craig Biggio will remain in the Astros' front office, although he is not technically under contract, which expired as the Astros ownership change was ongoing. "Because of the timing that they inherited the club (two weeks) before the winter meetings, they had a lot of things to digest," Biggio said. "It's all going to get worked out. We'll sit down and figure out the title and the status. ... I want to be part of the equation that rebuilds this thing and put this thing back together."

BY THE NUMBERS
7 -- Pitching prospects, including consensus top pitching candidate Jarred Cosart and 2010 first-round pick Mike Foltynewicz, who will report to camp early in order to get a taste of working with the big leaguers.

QUOTE TO NOTE
"Baseball was the greatest game in the world when I started, and it still is today. ... And when the end of the (2012) season comes and I do that last game as the voice of the club, I'll still be around doing a lot of things." -- Milo Hamilton, Hall-of-Fame Astros radio broadcaster, announcing that 2012 would be his final season in the booth. He still hopes to stay in baseball long enough to hit 70 years in 2015.

I liked what I saw from Carlos. He might actually do something since he's in a contract year

It is going to be more fun in the AL west.

I'll be interested to see if he actually produces through July, whether they can find a trade partner he'll accept. The guy seems to be content earning stupid money and playing for a bottom-feeder. And he's got like 14 teams on his no-trade list.

Similar hope for Wandy, keep that ERA down and let that trade value creep up.

Bud Selig can die in a fire.

Now that's the way to start off a game.

I have the Rangers game on my TV instead of the Astros. My brother came over and turned the Yankees game on. This sucks.

Yes and CJ hit the ball hard tonight. Not just sitting on fastballs but he hit the curve ball to the LF wall for a double. I always thought he had the ability but had a piss poor attitude............that even seems better tonight. Going forward the big issue for this team is the bullpen. I don't think there are many quality arms there.

Ha I just saw on another board that this is the first time the Stros has been over .500 since 2009.

World Series, holla!

He didn't have to move the team period. Was their pressure applied yes...........he made a money deal not a deal with the history of the Astros in mind. As a fan that is very disappointing.

I am glad somebody other than Drayton bought the team..........but Crane is viewing this franchise as an investment only. Remember Houston residence and people who travel to Houston are paying for the stadium and making owner richer.

How do I know he has no personal attachment?

-Tried to change the name

-Did change leagues

Yes I worked in Major League Baseball...............I know the rules about the owners voting. It was a threat and if legal action were taken MLB would have backed down. He and Drayton received or split 60,000,000 because of the deal

How about this, jerkoff, if you're not an Astros fan it's none of you're damn business to say Astros fans have no reason to be upset and quite frankly your nonsense doesn't warrant me wasting my time explaining.

You're either not an Astros fan or you're an idiot if you don't think playing both the Cardinals and Cubs are intense. So what if we're not their "primary" rival. That's like saying Texas Tech shouldn't be upset if someone to them the're being moved against their will to never play Texas again because Texas doesn't consider Tech to be their rival. More importantly, we are a National League city, always have been.