I am a fan of Humberto Quintero. I know not all those in the blogosphere agree with me on the veteran catcher and I’m okay with that. But I was pleased to see that yesterday the Houston Astros announced that Q had signed a 1 year contract worth $1 million plus bonuses, thus avoiding arbitration.

So the Astros will have another year with Q behind the plate. That means base runners beware because this catcher leads the majors in pickoffs for the combined 2010-11 seasons (11). I love to watch a base runner be thrown out stealing and with Q behind the plate I get to watch that more often than with anyone else in that spot.

Meanwhile, in the land of Astros catchers, Jason Castro has had surgery on his left foot December 9th. Yep, a sesamoidectomy. Say that five times fast.

It seems the catcher was injured in the final game of the Arizona Fall League while playing with the Salt River Rafters. Castro, who was out all last season after tearing his ACL in his right knee, will be out for three months. That will definitely effect his Spring Training schedule, but he hopes to be ready to go for the season. Injuries tend to have a mind of their own, so time will tell.

Terri Schlather (AGirlintheSouth) is the tortured Senior Houston Astros Writer for Aerys Sports. You can email her at agirlinthesouth@gmail.com, or follow her ridiculous ramblings on sports, vodka and the weeone on twitter @agirlinthesouth.