Jason Castro is headed back to his first major league team, the Houston Astros, on a two-year contract worth $7 million. Carlos Osorio/Associated Press
HOUSTON — Catcher Jason Castro has agreed to a $7 million, two-year contract with the Houston Astros, a person familiar with the deal told The Associated Press.
The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity Thursday because the deal had not been announced. The agreement is pending completion of a successful physical.
This will be Castro’s second stint with the team. He was selected in the first round of the 2008 amateur draft by the Astros and spent his first six MLB seasons with the team.
The 33-year-old gives Houston another veteran catcher to play behind starter Martín Maldonado.
Castro played for the Angels and the Padres last season, appearing in 27 games and hitting .188 with two homers and nine RBI. He spent the previous three seasons with the Twins.
Castro had his best years with the Astros, where he was named to the All-Star team in 2013. He hit .232 with 62 homers and 212 RBI in his six seasons in Houston.
BREWERS: Utilityman Daniel Robertson agreed to a $900,000, one-year contract that allows him to earn an additional $400,000 in performance bonuses.
Robertson batted .333 with no homers and two RBI in 17 games with the San Francisco Giants last season while making appearances at shortstop, second base, third base and the outfield.
Robertson, who turns 27 on March 22, had has a career batting average of .234 with 16 homers and 74 RBI in 249 games. He has a .342 on-base percentage and a .354 slugging percentage.
MIKE SADEK, a popular backup catcher who played all eight of his major league seasons with the San Francisco Giants, has died. He was 74.
The team announced Sadek died Wednesday in San Andreas, California, following a short illness. Sadek was a .226 career hitter with five home runs and 74 RBI in 383 big league games from 1973-81.
San Francisco selected Sadek in the 12th round of the 1966 amateur draft but he opted to return to the University of Minnesota. The Twins then chose him in the fifth round the following year before the Giants picked him in the December 1969 Rule 5 draft.
At age 26, he made his major league debut on April 13, 1973, and spent parts of eight seasons with San Francisco. His 64 games in 1980 were a career high.
Sadek went on to work in the club’s community relations department from 1981-99 before retiring.
“Mike was a Forever Giant in every sense of the term,” Giants CEO Larry Baer said in a statement. “He spent nearly 30 years in the Giants organization between his time as a player and his role as a member of the front office. He had a genuine love for the game and was known for getting a laugh out of his teammates when they needed it the most. Our condolences go out to the Sadek family for their loss and we extend our thoughts to his teammates and friends.”
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