Spring Training Moves: Astros, Yankees

Astros Cut Down to 44

Astros General Manager Ed Wade announced the following 12 roster moves this morning:

RHP Chia-Jen Lo and catcher Lou Santangelo, who were in camp as non-roster invitees, have been reassigned to minor league camp. Outfielder Alex Romero, who was also a non-roster invitee, was given his unconditional release, making him an unrestricted free agent.

Wade also announced this morning that the following players were optioned to minor league camp: LHP Fernando Abad, OF Brian Bogusevic, RHP Evan Englebrook, RHP Matt Nevarez, OF Yordany Ramirez, IF Wladimir Sutil, LHP Polin Trinidad, RHP Jose Valdez, RHP Henry Villar.

With today’s moves, the Astros now have 44 players remaining in Major League camp. Yesterday, IF Jose Vallejo cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple A Round Rock.

Yankees Hire Towers

The New York Yankees announced today that Kevin Towers has joined the organization as a Special Assignment Scout. Based in San Diego, he will work directly with General Manager Brian Cashman, Vice President of Amateur Scouting Damon Oppenheimer and Senior Director of Pro Personnel Billy Eppler.

He begins his 29th season in professional baseball in 2010, including 26 seasons in the San Diego Padres organization and two with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

He was named the seventh general manager in Padres history on November 17, 1995, and was the longest-tenured GM in the Majors on October 3, 2009, when the club announced he would not return for the 2010 season.

Under his guidance over parts of 14 seasons, San Diego went 1,107-1,160 and reached the postseason four times (1996, ’98, 2005-06), narrowly missing a third-consecutive playoff appearance in 2007 following a one-game tiebreaker loss to Colorado.

The Padres won four of their five National League West titles under Towers and posted the largest season-over-season improvement in club history, winning 23 more games from 2003 (64-98) to 2004 (87-75). The 1998 Padres remain the most successful team in franchise history, winning a club-record 98 games and earning the franchise’s second of two World Series appearances (also 1984).

Originally drafted in the first round of the 1982 First-Year Player Draft as a right-handed pitcher out of Brigham Young University, Towers pitched seven seasons in the Padres minor league system before retiring as a player at the Triple-A level in 1988 after a series of arm operations. He then worked for the Padres as a short-season Single-A pitching coach (1989-90) and as an area scout (1989-91) prior to serving as a crosschecker in the Pirates organization for two years. In 1993, he returned to the Padres as director of scouting and continued in that role through the 1995 season.

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