The Astros announced that they've reached a deal for a minor league contract with David Newhan. There's no news on the size of the contract, but I'm sure it's insignificant in the grand scheme of things.
The important thing to consider is that this creates a lot more competition for Drew Sutton, not just this Spring, but all year. I like that for a lot of reasons; primarily because I want to see how Sutton fairs at AAA for at least two months before he gets a whiff of the big leagues (this may be jaded by my proximity to Dell Diamond). I can say this because I genuinely think that Newhan is adequate enough as Kaz's injury platoon mate to bide time for the proper level of seasoning for Sutton. Further, I hope the idea of having a proven veteran that will force Sutton to really do something special before he gets to come up to the big leagues pushes him to really come to Spring Training hungry.
So while this is another thoroughly uninspring Astros off season acquisition, I think this one will have a little bit more zeal in about a month.