I was wrong. sorry about that.

I thought that, despite a not-so-stellar Spring Training, Woody Williams was going to survive the last round of cuts. But that wasn't the case.

Chris Sampson will be No. 5 of the starting rotation. Besides, the somewhat controversial idea of keeping three catchers in the roster will not be kept. Humberto Quintero was sent to Triple-A, while J.R. Towles and Brad Ausmus remain on the big team.

Williams was unceremoniously released. It is expected for the Houston-native hurler to call it quits after 15 MLB seasons.

Against Woody we can mention his age, his Spring outing and, above all else, his 15-8 record of 2007.

His teammates are not really pleased.

"Fourteen years in the big leagues, you have one bad year...you can't really go on that," Roy Oswalt said. "A lot of people have a bad year.

"I don't think it's right for Spring Training to be judged. But that's [management's] job. They're trying to put a team on the field and I guess they're trying to go a different way."

A whole different case could be made for Quintero. The Maracaibo, Venezuela native really made his best effort, he shed a few pounds and proved himself at his top game. But in the end, Cecil Cooper didn't go through with the three-catchers combo.

Venezuela-born seasoned infielder Tomas Perez made the cut though.

It's true, this is a different path for the Astros. A road never travelled before, and a 180-degree departure from last year.

Or maybe, from the past 5 or 6 years in management style terms.

"We're going to do it tomorrow, We're going to do it all day if we have to do. We won't even hit. We'll just do it." That was Cecil Cooper after witnessing some less-than-stellar defensive performance from the Astros, during a Spring Training loss to the Detroit Tigers, nonetheless.

It's a true fact, this is a different Astros team, and if there's one thing these guys will have to work on if they want to win games, it's communication on the field. There's a part of the game many guys forget to pay attention to since they take it for granted once they reach this level. Fundamentals.

And what about the pitching?

"I want to see clean innings," Cooper said. "This is a time when we should be seeing them -- crisp, clean innings. Yet we're hitting guys that are trying to bunt, walking guys on four pitches. ... This is not young kids doing this stuff. This is ridiculous. I don't care who it is. It shouldn't be happening.

"We've got to clean it up. I'd like to see some clean innings sooner or later. We should be throwing strike one, strike two, make some pitches. We're all over the place. We're not even close to the strike zone."

I know it's just Spring, folks (but it's also 6 days away from Opening Day). Not to sound too harsh, but the diagnosis from the skip himself is not really the best in those departments.

Hitting is allright. Trust me. With Berkman, Pence, Lee, Tejada, Towles and company, I don't really think this team should suffer from anemic hitting. They have speed in Bourne and Pence when he  is into it, But hitting alone will not win you games.

Shawn Chacon has practically made the rotation. Looks more polished these days than Chris Sampson or Woody Williams himself, which has also progressed a lot. The fate of the starting rotation depends a lot on how Williams delivers.

Fragile combination, but not impossible.

With a new season, it's always time for renewing hopes and aspirations. And no sport embodies that feeling better than baseball, right? With a new season we embrace a lot of traditions.

One of the latest traditions in baseball is a yearly makeover for mlb.com and all 30 sites. Astros.com certainly is no exception. The guys over at MLB Advanced Media have been kind enough to link this blog on the homepage. I cannot thank them enough for that.

This is all about making it easier to find our favorite content, be articles, the roster list, press releases or anything else you might like. And I hope you consider joining us at blogging the Astros here at MLBlogs, which will make your opinions be exposed to a wider audience, and who knows, maybe even become a part of the new astros.com.

There's plenty of interesting changes for the Astros this year, and I hope you join me as we see how a new era in the history of this organization unfolds.