Humberto

Quintero

Quintero, from Venezuela, hit .302 at Triple-A before being summoned to San Diego. Pitcher Tim Stauffer will represent the Padres for the US squad.

''We want him to play every day,’' Towers said. Hernandez is due back after the break, at which point Miguel Ojeda will handle backup duties.

The anti-inflammatory injection that Quintero was given last week seems to have done the trick on the soreness in his hip and lower back. He’s expected to open the 2012 regular season at Triple-A Round Rock.

We’re assuming this means they were traded, though the Astros have yet to make an official announcement. The Royals are known to be looking for a catcher with Salvador Perez sidelined following knee surgery while the Nationals have been mentioned as a possible suitor for Bourgeois in recent weeks. Stay tuned.

As expected. It’s not clear where they are headed and Astros’ general manager Jeff Luhnow declined to comment on the situation, likely because he is waiting for the deal to be finalized. We should know something in the next couple of hours.

It’s a logical destination for Quintero, who will likely share playing time with Brayan Pena until Salvador Perez is ready to return from knee surgery later this summer. The 32-year-old owns a pretty lousy .234/.268/.321 batting line and a .589 OPS in the big leagues, so he shouldn’t be on your radar in fantasy leagues.

Both ailments are thought to be fairly minor. Quintero is likely to be left off the Astros’ Opening Day roster this year in favor of catchers Jason Castro and Chris Snyder.

Quintero has been dealing with back and hip soreness for the past week or so. The 32-year-old catcher is likely to be given an anti-inflammatory injection and should return to Astros camp by the end of this week.

Quintero should be Ramon Hernandez’s long-term backup, but he’s third on the depth chart behind Miguel Ojeda at the moment.

“I feel it went really well,” said Castro. “It was nice to get in there and catch someone with pretty serious movement.” Castro would catch three bullpen sessions per day in camp under normal circumstances, but the Astros are naturally easing him back into action. The 24-year-old backstop still hopes to be ready for the start of the season, but Chris Snyder and Humbero Quintero would carry the load in the early going if he suffers any setbacks.