Another NLC platoon catcher is off the market now that the Astros have resigned catcher Brad Ausmus. Good thing, too; where would Houston be without his three homers? (Via AstroCast)

HOUSTON — The Houston Astros announced today that the club has re-signed catcher Brad Ausmus to a one-year, $2-million contract, plus incentives. The announcement was made by General Manager Ed Wade.

Ausmus, 38, hit .235 (82×349) with three home runs, 17 doubles and 25 RBI in 117 games with the Astros in 2007. He recorded his 100th career stolen base on July 27th, becoming the 21st catcher all-time to reach the 100-steal plateau. Defensively, he ranked fourth among National League catchers with a .995 fielding percentage, committing only four errors in 814 total chances. He made his franchise-record eighth Opening Day start at catcher for the Astros in 2007, breaking a tie with Alan Ashby.

“Brad has had a solid big league career and, despite the fact that he’s played for a couple of other teams, he considers himself to be a lifelong Astro,” said Wade. “We’re very pleased to have him back for 2008. We know that he can make a significant contribution on the field, and we know the impact he has in our clubhouse. Additionally, he can help mentor a young catcher like J.R. Towles, which will make both J.R. and the Astros better.”

Originally selected by the Yankees in the 48th round of the June 1987 draft, Ausmus has a .252 (1490×5905) career batting average with 256 doubles, 76 home runs, 572 RBI and 101 stolen bases in 1,833 career games. He won his third Rawlings Gold Glove Award in 2006 after winning consecutive Rawlings Gold Glove Awards from 2001-02 and ranks 12th all-time with 1,780 career games caught. His 12,040 career putouts ranks second all-time, trailing only Ivan Rodriguez (12,504). Ausmus has spent all or parts of 15 seasons with three teams, including the Astros (1997-98 and 2001-07), San Diego (1993-96) and Detroit (1996, 1999-2000).

Ausmus is the Houston franchise’s all-time leader in both games (1,166) and starts (1,057) at catcher and leads the Majors in games played, assists and total chances at the position since 1995. He also was a member of the American League All-Star team in 1999 while playing for Detroit. In 35 career postseason games, Ausmus has hit .245 (26×106) with five doubles, three home runs and seven RBI.

The Astros have named a new administrative type:

The Houston Astros announced today that the club has named Bobby Heck as the club’s director of amateur scouting.

Journalists in the greater Houston area are going to have to stretch to find reasons to make puns on the Astros’ new director of amateur scouting, but I bet they’ll try. Maybe he’ll make it easy by getting in trouble with the law or something. “To Heck in a Handbasket” is a phrase I expect we’ll be seeing in headlines in the coming months.

Last year at this time, Austin Kearns and Felipe Lopez were already in Washington in exchange for a couple middle relievers who wouldn’t even be on the Reds’ Opening Day roster the following year. If there’s one thing we’ve learned, it’s that we can’t wait until the last minute to start talking about trades for this team. Before we know it, it could be too late!

It’s clear that the Reds are in a good position to be sellers this season, and there are a few obvious wares to try to sell. There are also a handful of untouchables and a few guys who could go if the price is right. Time will tell whether general manager Wayne “Kriv-dawg” Krivsky can tell the difference, whether he can correctly identify the right price, and whether he’ll be too gun-shy after last year’s trade deadline debacle to pull the trigger at all.

This week on the Red Hot Broadcast, Jon and I discuss whom we believe to be untouchable, salable, and in-between and what we think would be an appropriate price. We also talk a little about tonight’s game (since it was still going on as we recorded), the standings in the NLC (the Astros have beat out the Pirates for second-worst in the division), and my on-going job search (no, I’m not interested in relocating to Portland for a 6-month contract).

Episode 67: Anticipating the Trade Deadline (20.6MB, 30:06)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

This week on the podcast, the Crack Technical Staff and I are pleased to welcome Lambo and Sketkar of the Astrocast to the program to share their insights on the Astros and how they think the season is going to play out.It’s the first time we’ve had two guests on the show at the same time, and I think it worked out well, thanks in large part to me shutting up for a change and letting the guests do most of the talking. The Crack Technical Staff feels very bad that he forgot to unplug the laptop, which is the cause of the hum and some of the other weird noises you hear throughout the program, but I think he’s probably being too hard on himself.

Hopefully you’ll still be able to make out their voices, despite us not having the greatest connection in the world, because this is the first preview of another NLC team we’ve done where the guest isn’t totally down on the Reds. It’s nice to have someone recognize.

Episode 50: Astros Preview with Lambo and Sketkar (12.4 MB, 18:04)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download