Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com reports that the Astros have signed Bill Hall to a one-year contract with a mutual option for 2012. He’ll make somewhere around $3 million.
Hall, who turns 31 later this month, batted .247/.316/.456 with 18 home runs, 46 RBI, nine stolen bases and a 772 OPS over 382 plate appearances this past season. While he played six different positions with the Red Sox -- and even pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning in May -- Rosenthal hears that he will be the regular second baseman in Houston. The Astros already added Clint Barmes in a trade with Colorado last month, so the club will have a brand new double play combination in 2011.
Rosenthal adds that this signing “pratically ensures” that Jeff Keppinger will be traded. And as he wrote earlier in the day, the Yankees like him as a potential utility player.
