Worth noting

• Luhnow said the club will definitely take more than 25 players back to Houston for the March 29-30 exhibition games against the Cubs, but he couldn't say if the club would have its final roster decisions made by then.

• Outfielder Fernando Martinez, who left Saturday's game against Washington in the first inning with a lower back strain, said he was being given Sunday off and expected to return to action in the next few days.

• Before sending 10 players off to Minor League camp on Sunday, Porter reminded them the evaluations are continuing at the big league level. Porter said he keeps up with what's going on in Minor League camp on a daily basis, getting email reports from the baseball operations staff each night before going over the hard copy the next morning.

"I'm very interested in what's going on down there and how our players are progressing," Porter said.

Porter talked glowingly Sunday about the tools of infielder Jose Martinez, the team's Most Valuable Player at Double-A Corpus Christi in 2012. Martinez is a second baseman, but Porter compared his versatility to Miguel Cairo and said he might give Martinez a look at first base.

• The Astros welcomed baseball comedian Domingo Ayala (stage name) to their complex on Sunday. He did a comedy routine in the clubhouse prior to the game before taking batting practice and fielding grounders. He even took out the lineup card prior to the game against the Jays. Ayala went to college with Astros players Brandon Barnes and Laird.