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The Houston Astros will not add Cesar Izturis to the 40-man roster before his opt-out deadline on Tuesday, so the veteran infielder has opted out of his deal with the team. In addition to that move, multiple outlets are reporting that Houston optioned reliever Josh Zeid to the minors and has reassigned catcher Rene Garcia and outfielder Adron Chambers to minor league camp.
This means that Marwin Gonzalez has likely made the club as a backup infielder and reduces Houston's roster to 30 with a week to go before Opening Day. Gonzalez is the only backup infielder currently on the active roster, though Jesus Guzman can play third base.
Houston only has 12 position players on the active roster, but has yet to make a decision on catcher Carlos Perez. It's very unlikely that the Astros carry more than two catchers, meaning Houston may open the season with just 12 position players, barring the acquisition of a player in the next week.
The real cuts will happen on the pitching side, where Houston will need to send away five more players before Opening Day (at least). The only NRI pitcher left in camp is Peter Moylan and a report this weekend indicated he's likely headed to the disabled list with another elbow injury. That leaves five more cuts Houston will make before Opening Day. Who's left?
Just looking at pitchers on the active roster who didn't sign lucrative free agent deals in the offseason or haven't already been named to the starting rotation, we have Anthony Bass, Kevin Chapman, Jesse Crain, Josh Fields, Lucas Harrell, Dallas Keuchel, Brad Peacock, Raul Valdes, Alex White, Asher Wojciechowski and Jerome Williams.
White, Crain and Wojo will open the season on the DL, leaving one more cut. At this point, it looks like the choices will be between whoever loses the fifth starter race between Keuchel, Peacock and Harrell. It's worth noting that Peacock and Harrell are both out of options, so Keuchel could be headed back for Triple-A.