Blum Reportedly Agrees With ‘Stros

Fox 29 in Houston is reporting that Geoff Blum and the Astros have agreed on a deal. No word on the details at the moment. Neither Ed Wade nor Geoff Blum have commented on this story. This will return him to the team on which he played in 2002 and 2003.

The ’Stros have an opening at second with the retirement of Craig Biggio, but Blum doesn’t figure to start…at least I don’t think so. His .319 OBP in 330 at bats last year was the third highest in his career (in a season where he put up 200 or more at bats). His best year, seemingly an anomaly, was a .283/.367/.440 effort for Houston in 2002. That was also the last year he cracked the .400 mark in slugging percentage.

Does this signal that Mark Loretta won’t be back?

Joe Pawlikowski is co-author of River Ave. Blues, a Yankees blog.