According to Kevin Czerwinksi of MLB.com, the Astros have signed ex-Mets SP Alay Soler to a 1 year $400K deal. 

The Cuban defector was signed by the Mets in 2004 to a three year $2.8 million deal.  After being ineffective for the Mets, he was released and signed with the Pirates where he was ineffective again.  Before being signed by the Astros he was playing in the Dominican Winter League.

Good luck buddy, I’m not sure why but I always liked him.

Mets Blog reports by way of Adam Rubin at The Daily News that Alay Soler has been released by the Mets.

Soler had an 8.22 ERA in three appearances this spring.

Adam Rubin reports on his blog, Surfing The Mets, that Mike Devaney has made the most of his opportunity to step into Mike Pelfrey's spot in Binghamton since being promoted.

With that victory, the Camas, Wash., native – who turns 24 on July
31 – improved to 24-7 record since signing with the Mets as a
23rd-round pick from Concordia University in Portland, Ore., in 2004.

He enjoyed a 32-inning scoreless streak this season at high-A St.
Lucie, was named a Florida State League All-Star, and led his team to
its first-half division title by posting an 8-3 record and a 1.62 ERA
before his promotion. The 6-4 righthander’s biggest win this season
came on the second-to-last day of the first half on June 20, when he
took a no-hitter one out into the eighth inning in a 2-0 win against Brevard County.

Here are some more highlights from Rubin…

• Royce Ring’s
  scoreless-innings streak ended at a Norfolk-record 26 2/3 innings July
  8 against Ottawa. Ring, the Tides’ lone Triple-A All-Star
  representative, pitched a scoreless inning Wednesday at the event.

• Philip Humber’s comeback from Tommy John elbow surgery continues. The third overall pick in the 2004 draft, one slot behind Detroit’s Justin Verlander,
  limited Brevard County to two unearned runs and three hits in six
  innings. Humber has a 3.86 ERA and .208 opponent batting average in
  four starts with St. Lucie

• Alay Soler hasn’t done much since his July 3 demotion to
  Norfolk. The Cuban defector, who complained that right calf discomfort
  affected his last big-league start against the Yankees, had been
  walking around in a boot with the Tides and could be headed to the
  disabled list

• Lastings Milledge has twice been denied first base by plate umpires after getting hit by pitches on his elbow guard since returning to the minors.
• Michael Tucker entered yesterday hitting .333 (19-for-57) in his last 19 games.
• Edgardo Alfonzo joins the Tides tomorrow.

Some highlights from yesterday's minor league action from Toby's Minor League Report…

• In AAA action, Tagg Bozied led an offensive explosion in the nightcap with a pair
  of home runs.

• In AA, Jay Caligiuri tripled to
  lead off the ninth, Ambi Concepcion singled him home to tied the game and then
  Kevin Rios doubled in Concepcion
  for the game winner. Matt Lindstrom (2-2) picked up the win for streaking Binghamton.

• In High A ball, Blake Eager threw one-hit, shut out ball for seven
  innings while Ivan Naccarata slugged three hits, including a home, to lead St.
  Lucie to an easy win Saturday night.

I know we've had many articles on this site concerning Pedro's return to Beantown, but I have yet to put in my two cents.  One more can't hurt.

I just returned from Boston and from watching Alay Soler get his ass kicked by the Sox and 'Stings fall flat on his face.  A great time it was.

For those of you who think Pedro will get a boo-style reception from the Fenway Faithful, you are sorely mistaken.  When Pedro walked down the line to warm up in pre-game warmups, he was cheered like you wouldn't believe, by the crowd which at that time was only around 8,000, even though the game was eventually sold out. 

Every chance he got, Pedro threw a ball into the crowd from Fenway's center field.  He signed autographs for the Red Sox fans and Mets fans alike.  He was given a video tribute in the third inning.  And if that wasn't enough, get a load of this.  The Red Sox concession stands, the ones that are in the stadium, were selling Pedro Martinez Mets jerseys.  He is sorely missed in Beantown.

Is it just me, or did your heart skip a beat when Reyes hit the deck at home? I know mine did. I actually feel like Reyes should have gone in a bit stronger, looks like he went in half hearted. Willie said after the game he just got the wind knocked out of him. I'm thanking all that is sacred that he's ok. Reyes returned and finished the game, but went hitless, ending his streak.

Tough loss tonight, which is funny to say when you're up 12 games, but you want to beat the good teams to prove you can win in the postseason and the Red Sox are one of them. Mets will have their two aces up next and will have a chance to win this series, but will face a tough task against Schilling and Beckett.

Soler looked overwhelmed all night. He got in trouble as he usually does in the first and it unraveled from there. The bats never got going, aside from Delgado and Marrero's solo homers. Wright got badly fooled on a nasty curve by Lester. Milledge made some nice plays off the wall but the one he missed scored two and honestly thats a tough task for a guy who just came up to the big leagues.

Get back on the horse and bring Pedro, who loves to step up in the spotlight and he will have a major stage to show his stuff on tomorrow. I hope he does his best to show the Boston faithful what they gave away.

The Mets return to Fenway Park, where 20 years ago they faced the Red Sox in their celebrated 1986 World Series. It is quite surreal to find the Mets here again, and with Pedro pitching for the Mets tomorrow and Roger Clemens still pitching over in Houston. Its even more surreal to find both teams on top of the baseball world again, and a real possiblity of them meeting each other for a World Series rematch.

It will be a first experience for many players such as Jose Reyes and David Wright to experience Fenway and it will be exciting to see how they play in front of an electric Boston crowd. The subplots go on and on, Pedro's return, 1986, the return of the 1986 Boston Red Sox, the Mets and Red Sox both on top of the East in their respective leagues, oh and theres a game to be played here tonight. Lets take a look…

Tonight the Mets will bring Alay Soler (2-1, 3.32) who makes his seventh career start.
He has posted a 0.56 ERA in winning both road starts,
including a two-hit shutout at Arizona on June 10.

The Red Sox will send rookie Jon Lester (2-0, 2.76 ERA) to the mound. The left-hander gave up one run
and three hits with 10 strikeouts over six innings in a 9-3 win over
Washington on Wednesday. That followed up a six-inning, one-run effort
in a 4-1 victory at Atlanta on June 16, the 22-year-old pitcher's first
career win.

This is the first time these two rookie pitchers have ever faced the Mets and Red Sox.

The Mets are a league-best 25-13 on the road and have won 10 of their
last 11 away from Shea Stadium. They're hitting .320 and have outscored
opponents 86-42 in those games

The Red Sox are 11-1 in interleague play this season have won 20 of their last 22 games against the NL.

New York holds an 8-7 advantage over Boston in interleague play.

Fox Sports has the video.

The Daily News reports that the traditional rookie hazing festivities took place this weekend as Lastings Milledge and Alay Soler donned tight womens dresses on their trip from Canada to Boston.

Jose Reyes was happy to know his days of rookie hazing are over…

Then
he went back to staring and laughing and being a 23-year-old starting
shortstop getting four hits a game for the best team in the National
League.

Yes, it is good to be José Reyes.

Adam Rubin has the photos.

From Baseball America…

ORG LVL PLAYERS                        AB  R  H  BI   AVG
NYM AAA Milledge, Lastings CF  ……   2  1  2   1  .357 - HR (1), 2B, CS,
2 BB; off to .357/.451/.595 start
NYM AA  Gomez, Carlos CF  ………..   4  1  1   0  .191 - SB (8)
NYM AA  Harper, Brett 1B  ………..   4  1  3   2  .421 - 2B (6)
NYM HiA Concepcion, Ambiorix CF  ….   6  3  4   1  .311 - 2 2B, CS
NYM HiA Flores, Jesus C  …………   5  3  4   2  .270 - 3 2B

————————-  Pitchers ———————–

ORG LVL PITCHERS                        IP  H  R  ER  BB  SO    ERA
FLA AAA Petit, Yusmeiro  ………..   5.1  9  6   6   3   3   3.86 - 3 HR,
but 9-to-2 groundouts to flyouts
NYM HiA Soler, Alay  ……………   5.0  3  1   1   1   6   0.60 - W
(1-1)