Great news today. The Astros have agreed to terms with their first round pick, catcher Jason Castro out of Stanford.

A lot of scouts have said that Castro is almost Major League ready. With the way our current catchers are performing there couldn’t be greater news than this signing. At Stanford this year Castro hit .376 with 14 homers and 73 RBI’s. It’ll be exciting to watch his progression through the system.

Another update from the conversion from pitcher to outfielder for Brian Bogusevic. He went 1-2 last night with a homerun. So far so good in the position switch. Who knows, this guy may turn out to be the next Rick Ankiel. Scouts thought he was a better hitter than pitcher coming out of college anyways. We’ll see.

Wandy Rodriguez takes the mound tonight, hoping to right the ship after a dissapointing game last night.

There are some rumors out there that some teams are inquiring on the availablilty of Mark Loretta and Darin Erstad. In my opinion I wouldn’t mind giving up either or both of those guys if we got some pieces that could help us next year. It would take a miracle for the Astros to turn things around this year, although it is possible, so I would like to see some young guys come in for our veteran players.

I have also seen some stories about the Angels scouting Miguel Tejada. I don’t know if there is much truth to that rumor, but it would be odd to see Wade give up on Tejada so soon. Of course, the Angels are loaded with prospects, and getting some of those instead of paying Tejada’s hefty contract could be nice. I still like all the intangibles that Tejada brings to the team.

Some other good news is that Ed Wade has said that the team has put an offer on the table for first round pick Jason Castro. It would be nice to get him signed and in the minors. The guy I really hope we can sign is high school pitcher Ross Seaton. I think he is a great prospect, and from what Wade is saying, both sides want to work a deal.

Our first round pick in 2005, pitcher Brian Bogusevic out of Tulane, has been converted to an outfielder. He got sent down to Salem from Corpus Christi to work his way up. He just could never get it going as a pitcher. Brian was surprised by the move, but evidently the front office has been thinking about making the switch for awhile. So far so good though, as he went 1-1 with an RBI and a walk in his first appearance as an outfielder.

Since his arrival as GM, Ed Wade has never been one to wait to make his moves. I would bet that we could see some minor trades in the next week or so, so stay tuned!