The Astros have officially relased Gustavo Chacin, per Zachary Levine's twitter. Chacin pitched this year for Oklahoma City, sporting a 3-6 record with a 5.13 ERA for the Astros' AAA affiliate. He appeared in 44 games last year for the big league club, and the highlight of his stint in Houston came last May when he homered in his only at-bat as an Astro.
↵Houston has also signed two international free agents recently, RHP Harold Arauz for $300K and OF Frederick Serrano for an undisclosed amount. Both players are currently 16 years old, and it's worth noting that Arauz was the MVP of the Dominican League Prospect All-Star Game in May. Ben Badler of Baseball America wrote about Arauz, the 6'4 right-hander, saying that he has:
↵↵↵"a clean delivery and throws strikes with some feel for his secondary stuff."
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We don't know much about Serrano right now, but some more details about his signing should be coming soon. That makes four international free agent signings for the Astros so far, and it seems that their investments in Latin American academies are beginning to pay dividends.