Astros roster moves: Brandon Laird called up, Brett Wallace to minors

Well, I have rarely been as wrong as quickly as I was today in 3 Things. Literally minutes after I wrote that Houston wouldn't be making any roster moves today to call up a hot-hitting Triple-A hitter, the Astros did just that.

Going down is struggling first baseman Brett Wallace and returning is the spring phenom Brandon Laird. To make room for Laird on the 40-man roster, Houston designated left-hander Xavier Cedeno for assignment.

Wallace hit .042/.115/.042 in 26 plate appearances over seven games this season. He's a .243/.316/.366 career hitter in 818 plate appearances over four seasons. The problem for Wally this season is that he just couldn't make contact. In those 26 plate appearances, Wallace struck out 17 times.

Laird fills Wallace's spot neatly, because he can play both first and third base. Laird hit .353/.364/.569 in 55 plate appearances with two home runs and 14 RBIs in 12 games for Oklahoma City. He also had 12 strikeouts, good for a 21.8 percent strikeout rate or a third of Wally's.

Cedeno has had the roughest go of it in the Astros bullpen. He's thrown 6 1/3 innings this season with a 11.37 ERA with a 6.40 FIP and a .400 batting average on balls in play. Cedeno has struck out three and walked seven in those six innings.

Even with these moves, expect some more to come soon, as Houston's bullpen now seems a little light. Maybe we get another long reliever for this new bullpen strategy? Any guesses who it might be?

I know there won't be many tears shed on Wallace, but doesn't it say something about Jeff Luhnow that he makes the decision to wash him out this quickly? Luhnow drafted Wallace. He admitted in the offseason that he's a Wallace guy. Yet, the longest rope he gave Wallace was 26 plate appearances. Will we ever see Wallace in the majors again?