MONDAY, 10:31am: The Astros have released Byrdak, tweets Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
WEDNESDAY, 1:26pm: The Astros outrighted Tim Byrdak, Gustavo Chacin and Matt Nevarez off of the 40-man roster, according to a team press release. Byrdak and Chacin were both arbitration eligible, but MLBTR had identified them as non-tender candidates earlier in the month. Nevarez will be assigned to the Astros’ Triple-A Oklahoma City roster; Byrdak and Chacin can become free agents.
Byrdak, a 37-year-old lefty, posted a 3.49 ERA in 64 relief appearances (38 2/3 innings) with 6.8 K/9 and 4.7 BB/9. Chacin, also a left-hander, posted a 4.70 ERA with 7.3 K/9 and 4.7 BB/9 in 38 1/3 innings of work. It was his first appearance in the major leagues since 2007, when he was still with the Blue Jays.
The team also signed catcher Carlos Corporan to a minor league deal and invited him to Spring Training. The 26-year-old has just one major league plate appearance to his name (he singled), but he has a .251/.306/.377 line in over 2,000 minor league plate appearances.
