Houston Astros sign Jose Valdez, Edgar Gonzalez for Minor League Deals - MLB News
The Houston Astros signed two right-handed pitchers, Jose Valdez and Edgar Gonzalez to Minor League deals and also gave the duo invites for Spring Training. Both pitchers were removed from the 40-man roster by the Astros by out-righting them on November
1, 2012.
Jose Valdez has had few chances to play in the Major League and has only played a handful of games during the 2011 and 2012 seasons as a relief pitcher. The Dominican was originally signed by the New York Yankees in 2000 as an international free agent.
If he is added to the Major League roster by the Astros, he will be making $500,000. He also has an option to play with a Japanese club.
He was signed by the Astros in 2009. Jose became a free agent in October 2011 but later signed a deal with the Houston ball club for the Minor League. In the 2012 season, the 29-year-old made 12 relief appearances with a decent 2.25 ERA.
He spent the majority of his 2012 season with the Astros’ Triple-A associate the Oklahoma City Red Hawks. In the 46 relief appearances that he made for the Red Hawks, Jose made 21 saves with a 4.05 ERA.
The 29-year-old Edgar Gonzalez was signed by the Arizona Diamondbacks in April of 2000 as a non-drafted free agent. He quickly rose through the ranks in the Diamondbacks farm system. In his second professional game, pitching for Single-A South Bend Silver
Hawks, he threw a no-hitter in the Midwest League in April of 2002.
He made his Major League debut in 2003 for the Diamondbacks and made reasonable start with a 2-1 winning record and posting a 4.91 ERA. Edgar continued playing with the Diamondbacks until 2008 with limited opportunities for the most part.
Since 2009, he has played with three different ball clubs and Houston Astros is the last one represented by Gonzalez in 2012. His stint with the team was not bad at all. In the six games he pitched in, all as starting pitcher, he had a 3-1 winning record
and posted an ERA of 5.04 and a WHIP of 1.24.
Edgar certainly would be confident of getting a spot on the starting rotation or the bullpen sometime in 2013 for the Astros. At the start of the season though, he is most likely going to be a part of the Astros’ Minor League System.
Should he make it to the big leagues with the Houston ball club, he will make $525,000 as stipulated in his contract. He will also have incentives per game that he pitches in.
The two pitchers will certainly be useful additions to the Astros’ farm teams. They may at some point also get a chance to play for the Houston Astros and show their prowess in the Majors. The duo certainly has what it takes to be consistently playing in
the big leagues.
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