As Spring Training nears, do Astros still have moves ahead?

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HOUSTON -- With one week remaining before pitchers and catchers report to West Palm Beach, Fla., for the start of Spring Training, Astros general manager Dana Brown met with the media Tuesday at Daikin Park to discuss the moves the club has made so far and what could still be ahead.

The Astros have long had interest in utility infielder Brendan Donovan, who was just traded to the Mariners. So is there anywhere else you can pivot in your quest to get a left-handed bat?

Brown: Look, I won’t confirm or deny [the interest in Donovan], but I would say we are definitely in the market for left-handed bats and we’re still continuing to be in that market. We’re working hard every day to see what we can add. If there was a left-handed bat that was available, I would say that we are in on him.

Do you feel to get that [left-handed] bat, you’re going to have to trade from the Major League roster?

Brown: Not necessarily. I think it depends on the club, as to who you’re trading and who you’re dealing with, but we are locked in on somehow trying to find a left-handed bat. Make no mistake, I really feel like our lineup is really good right now, but it would be a nice piece to the lineup to add a left-hand bat or two.

You acquired pitcher Kai-Wei Teng in a trade with the Giants last week. What do you guys like about him?

Brown: Major gut feel of mine. We started working through the process at the Winter Meetings. I was locked in on getting some pitching. We watched a lot of video and talked to a lot of people, talked to some people in our front office, and we finally got the deal done. But this is a big, strong dude who can run it up to 96 [mph] with some really good spin weapons and he can strike guys out. We feel like any time we can get pitching in this organization because of our reputation with pitching, I think there’s another step up, so there’s some upside with Teng.

Where do you stand in terms of your infield surplus and the opportunity to make another trade there?

Brown: I think if we could trade a guy to get a left-handed bat or something like that, we’ll consider it. I think right now we have a really good infield. We do have the depth, but we have a long season of 162 [games]. We have some veterans we’d like to get some breaks during the course of this season, and to have this depth is good. Last year, we ran into some injuries, so we feel like if something goes wrong in the injury department, we have the depth.

It seems the two players who would have playing time affected the most by having an extra infielder are third baseman Isaac Paredes and first baseman Christian Walker. Have either of them reached out to you or [manager] Joe [Espada] this winter to get an idea of where they stand?

Brown: They haven’t reached out to me, but I will say this: I feel like there’s enough playing time with the DH slot and the ability to move some guys around, whether it’s giving [Jose] Altuve a few games in left or DH'ing Paredes some and allowing Walker to be at first, which could open up second base for Paredes. You’re going to have to rest [Carlos] Correa at times and could play Paredes at third. [Jeremy] Peña is going to need rest and you could play Correa at short and put Paredes at third. We have some moving parts, but I think the depth is going to create some flexibility for the manager.

Yordan Alvarez played in only 48 games last year. How much of a focus will the team have on keeping him on the field?

Brown: I think this is probably the best he’s felt in a long time. He’s been doing a lot of workouts, he’s been swinging the bat a lot -- zero concerns at all. He’s on pace to be ready for Spring Training and that's an exciting part about why we’re so giddy about this season, because we get Yordan for the full season.

Could you still add a backup catcher to replace Victor Caratini, who left in free agency?

Brown: We’re still talking about backup catcher. We feel good about [César] Salazar. At the end of the day, he’s good enough to be our backup. We kind of got spoiled with Caratini. He was such a good backup that he could start on a lot of other teams. If we can upgrade in that area, we will. If not, Salazar will be the guy until we can upgrade.