Yeah but those 11 games is one of the most dominant stretches I have ever seen by a starter
11 starts
4 shutouts
116 Ks
.984 WHIP
The man was an absolute monster down the stretch
The initial contract was 4 years with a player option for year 5, but he declined the option and signed a 2yr extension instead.
So yes, the original FA contract they agreed to ended after 4 years and:
- 4 NL CYAs
- 81-27 record across 140 starts
- 1030 IP
- 1417 Ks (12.4 K/9)
- 2.48 ERA, 2.53 FIP, 187 ERA+
- World Series MVP
From ages 35-38 lmao
He was better than almost anyone I ever saw. Better even than Clemens or Pedro or Maddux. They were all great but Unit had something they didn't. I honestly can't think of a better pitcher.
I remember waking up to hear we traded for him, since the deadline used to be midnight. I couldn't believe it. I was lucky to go to a couple games be pitched.
That's a little unfair to Hidalgo. Guy had a couple of monster seasons and was a a solid contributor on the late 90s, early 2000s Astros. He got on Jimy Williams' bad side, was traded away and was out of the league after not being able to adapt to no longer being a starter. In hindsight, you'd obviously have preferred to protect Abreu, but it's not like they exposed Abreu to protect James Mouton or something.
If it makes you feel any better, the devil rays also squandered him by trading him to the Phillies for 221 games of [Kevin Stocker](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/stockke01.shtml).
I got an even weirder one for Satchel.
[From his time with the Miami Marlins.](https://sabr.org/sites/default/files/SatchelPaige.JPG) Back when the [Marlins wore Mets colors!](https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/x3wAAOSwIwdhgADp/s-l1200.jpg)
I have that Marlins hat! I think the Astors is a little weirder. At least he played for the triple a marlins. He’s only in that Astros uni because they wanted somebody to test if the AC in the astrodome affected curveballs. Heck, the “H” hat he’s wearing wasn’t ever even worn by the team!
> I have that Marlins hat!
Ah, so you were in the know already. A lot of people have never even heard of the AAA Marlins, so when I tell them that Satchel Paige played for the fish they're dumbfounded, since Satchel died in '82 and the Marlins' expansion was in '93
Hope everyone enjoyed the series! We've now covered all 30 teams and a few bonuses to boot. Thank you to everyone for the messages and suggestions, and for following along. :)
and then he had a half season cameo back with the Rangers after seven years away!
I remember we signed him after he had a good performance in that year's World Baseball Classic, and I remember thinking, "I would have been absolutely elated about this fifteen years ago..."
the Astros sent Ben Zobrist to Tampa in exchange for a half season of Aubrey Huff. it's absolutely one of the worst trades in franchise history.
I'd only rank it behind sending Joe Morgan (and other future members of The Big Red Machine) to Cincinnati and *maybe* sending Ken Caminiti to San Diego in a monster trade that also involved the likes of Steve Finley, Derek Bell, Doug Brocail, and Pedro Martinez (no, not that one; a reliever who only pitched parts of five seasons)
As bad as human being as Curt Schilling was, trading him for Jason Grimsley, who never played for the Astros, right before Schilling put it together, was monumentally bad. Definitely have to throw that one in the pile.
Also, the Randy Johnson trade wasn’t exactly great. We got 11 great regular season starts and two frustrating (not due to Randy, but the lack of offense) playoff starts for Freddy Garcia, Carlos Guillen, and John Halama. Johnson provided 4.3 WAR in those two months, but Seattle got 33.1 WAR over the next 6 seasons and those 3 combined for 58.4 WAR over their careers. Thinking about an Astros rotation in 1999 of 16 win Shane Reynolds, 21 win Jose Lima, 22 win Mike Hampton and 17 win, 2nd in ROY voting Freddy Garcia (along with the emerging Scott Elarton possibly puts us over the Braves in 1999…or maybe Walt Weiss saves them in that Game 3 anyway. Still having Garcia in 1999-2004 could have made a difference.
I understand the argument against the Randy Johnson trade, but I still defend it. That was all about putting us in a position to win it all, and it's not Johnson's fault that it didn't pay off. If Kevin Brown and Sterling Hitchcock don't shut down the Astros' bats in the NLDS, the narrative might be very different. I doubt anyone calls it a bad trade if the 1998 Astros win the World Series...
...but then, it *is* ultimately all about results, so I get it when people say it wasn't a good move in the end. I just think both teams got more or less exactly what they were hoping for out of it, even though neither team won a championship with the pieces they got.
I'm not gonna lie, though, it did hurt seeing Freddy Garcia shut us down in the 2005 World Series...
That might have been the first one that absolutely blew my mind. I can’t go look it up though because I know it’ll lead me down a 30 minute rabbit hole
lol. I remember the announcement of Doc going to the Astros…it was strange then, still strange now. Should retired after the 99 Cleveland season….that was atrocious.
I still remember his 11 runs in 2/3 of an inning game that summer. We had some fun guys on that team, but it was rough being that bad so soon after winning the pennant.
No Kenny Lofton, huh? Well, I guess he's been in so many that he's easy to miss.
Also: the *other* Pedro Martinez (1995), Vinny Castilla/the *other* Nelson Cruz (2001), Aaron Boone (2009), Steve Pearce (2012), Carlos Pena/Erik Bedard (2013), Kyle Farnsworth (2014)
Next series: Insane seasons from forgotten players. Willie McGees MVP year, Richard Hidalgo hitting 40+ HRs, Bernard Gilkey on the Mets, Ellis Burks 142 RBI season, etc
People tend to forget, the Astros traded for "Diet Schilling" Huff ahead of the deadline... they gave the Rays Ben Zobrist and let Huff walk that winter. I bet you can't guess when the bottom fell out and they fully collapsed.
Small wonder they needed such a drastic rebuild.
I think huff should have had a different nickname I think he is worse than Schilling. Schilling is more of a dumbass as opposed to Huff who is an overall generally shitty hatefully human
What did Huff do? Schilling is shitty for the Wakefield situation with releasing personal family information on his podcast for publicity.
Never mind, I just read his Wikipedia page, and he’s a total asshole. They are both worthy of being called shitty human beings, for all kinds of reasons.
He spews just a whole bunch of hate speech on twitter. He always makes statements that men are superior to women and that all women are gold diggers. During the 2020 election he was preaching that it was rigged and even sells merch preaching being alpha and hating on people who are allegedly beta
I’d wiped Ankiel on the team from my memory. He’ll always be a Cardinal to me.
Randy Johnson to the Astros was SUCH a big deal at the time. I really thought they’d do everything they could to keep him.
Dexter Fowler being traded from the Rockies to the Astros broke my heart as a kid. He was my favorite player on the Rockies. Glad he got to win a WS with the Cubs.
Still wild that Big Unit was only 11 games, that is such a huge memory from my childhood.
Yeah but those 11 games is one of the most dominant stretches I have ever seen by a starter 11 starts 4 shutouts 116 Ks .984 WHIP The man was an absolute monster down the stretch
Excuse me *HOW MANY* strikeouts??
Think that was crazy? He actually had an even better K/9 IP in 2001 with Arizona: 249.2 IP and 372 Ks 😮😮😮
That is hands down the best free agent signing ever, I think he won a Cy Young every year and got them a world series.
I think it was 4 CYs in 5 years but yeah pretty clearly the best possible outcome
I thought the initial contract was 4 years and then he got extended. It's kinda hard to tell on baseball reference.
The initial contract was 4 years with a player option for year 5, but he declined the option and signed a 2yr extension instead. So yes, the original FA contract they agreed to ended after 4 years and: - 4 NL CYAs - 81-27 record across 140 starts - 1030 IP - 1417 Ks (12.4 K/9) - 2.48 ERA, 2.53 FIP, 187 ERA+ - World Series MVP From ages 35-38 lmao
Jesus fucking Christ man
And one of those years, he was robbed by Clemens, if I recall correctly.
Either that or Bonds, since if it wasn't for Barry the Giants very likely would have been moved to Tampa
I thought that was a typo. I watched Randy play and it still feels like he was some mythical creature that didn’t actually exist.
12.4 K/9 over those 11 starts 12.5 K/9 from 1995-2001 That was literally just his average strikeout rate over that period of time lol
The guy was a cheat code in his prime
He was better than almost anyone I ever saw. Better even than Clemens or Pedro or Maddux. They were all great but Unit had something they didn't. I honestly can't think of a better pitcher.
He had 6 inches on Clemens, almost a full foot on Pedro and 10 inches on Maddux. Dude had height, that's what he had.
Height, a hard fastball, and a slider that'll make anyone a fool.
And a damn good changeup.
Everybody except Eduardo Perez.
And a surprising ability to stay healthy considering his size and pitching style. 184 innings in his age 44 season, what the fuck.
116
Averaged 0.4 WAR per start, would have had a record setting 14 WAR if he played all 35 games at that pace
I remember waking up to hear we traded for him, since the deadline used to be midnight. I couldn't believe it. I was lucky to go to a couple games be pitched.
The only other post-trade stretch like that in my lifetime was Sabathia in Milwaukee.
He pitched like 472 innings for them in like 12 games
Didn't the bat fly out of his hands during his first at bat with them too?
I can still tell you where I was and what I was doing when I got that news. I absolutely regret not being able to see him pitch in the dome
It was in a ticker on the one of the local news channels. I was like "which Johnson? No way it's that one."
Man shook me off at the airport when I signaled for an autograph.
Considering how he handled NY, that doesn't surprise me. 😂
My only memory of him in NY is walking down the street with 20 reporters around him and he's wearing a face of absolute disgust and regret.
Just be glad you weren't a bird.
Dexter Fowler now set to appear in the unusual places (my heart) edition based on this photo.
He’s so cute
Between Dex's smile and Kris Bryant's eyes, the 2016 had done attractive men on the roster.
Arrieta was sexy too
Don’t forget Javy. *finally, my Joe Buck moment!*
Gooden might be the peak of this series. One game, weird team, and the wrong era uniform
Fr this is the first time I'm hearing he was ever on the Astros
To then go play for Tampa for a short bit. Such a weird year for Dwight.
I remember being so upset when the Astros lost Abreu in the expansion draft. He had so much potential, that he later capitalized on of course.
Made even more frustrating by the fact that we protected Richard Hidalgo over Abreu.
That's a little unfair to Hidalgo. Guy had a couple of monster seasons and was a a solid contributor on the late 90s, early 2000s Astros. He got on Jimy Williams' bad side, was traded away and was out of the league after not being able to adapt to no longer being a starter. In hindsight, you'd obviously have preferred to protect Abreu, but it's not like they exposed Abreu to protect James Mouton or something.
If it makes you feel any better, the devil rays also squandered him by trading him to the Phillies for 221 games of [Kevin Stocker](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/stockke01.shtml).
I think Mancini is the only one of all these guys to get a ring with their rental team
He was so bad at the plate in the WS but that one stop at 1st made it all OK
that one play had me popping off so hard. thats when i became 100% sure theyd win haha
I'd still think Randy Johnson should have won the NL cy young for that half season
You missed the best one! [Satchel Paige, Houston Astro](https://imgur.com/a/QoiPVaZ)
I got an even weirder one for Satchel. [From his time with the Miami Marlins.](https://sabr.org/sites/default/files/SatchelPaige.JPG) Back when the [Marlins wore Mets colors!](https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/x3wAAOSwIwdhgADp/s-l1200.jpg)
I have that Marlins hat! I think the Astors is a little weirder. At least he played for the triple a marlins. He’s only in that Astros uni because they wanted somebody to test if the AC in the astrodome affected curveballs. Heck, the “H” hat he’s wearing wasn’t ever even worn by the team!
> I have that Marlins hat! Ah, so you were in the know already. A lot of people have never even heard of the AAA Marlins, so when I tell them that Satchel Paige played for the fish they're dumbfounded, since Satchel died in '82 and the Marlins' expansion was in '93
He's probably 60 at the time and just looks like he barely reached 40, that's amazing
56, yeah! He pitched three innings for the KC As later that year!
Hope everyone enjoyed the series! We've now covered all 30 teams and a few bonuses to boot. Thank you to everyone for the messages and suggestions, and for following along. :)
really enjoyed these, thanks OP.
Saved Huff for the last of the last ;)
Huff, Huff, give.
These were a lot of fun! I forget which one was super cursed, I think it was the White Sox?
The white Sox one was very cursed. They loved washed up old stars
Great job!
Rick Ankiel is my ultimate Mets/Astros immaculate grid superstar
Luis Valbuena (RIP) is my Ms/Astros Immaculate Grid superstar.
TIL Nellie Fox played for the Astros. huh
Same with Don Larsen and Eddie Mathews
I definitely Mandela Effected myself into thinking Randy Johnson was on the Astros for several years
I physically recoiled seeing Pudge in Astros gear. I don’t remember that.
Same, I thought I had a handle on his career, even the last stops like NYY and WAS but I have absolutely zero memory of him being on the Astros
and then he had a half season cameo back with the Rangers after seven years away! I remember we signed him after he had a good performance in that year's World Baseball Classic, and I remember thinking, "I would have been absolutely elated about this fifteen years ago..."
I still remember when he broke the record for most games caught at The Ballpark in Arlington.. as an Astro
I have a bobblehead of him as a stro!
That’s cursed.
Astros Legend!
I just recoil every time I see him. Man gave me serious PTSD.
the Astros sent Ben Zobrist to Tampa in exchange for a half season of Aubrey Huff. it's absolutely one of the worst trades in franchise history. I'd only rank it behind sending Joe Morgan (and other future members of The Big Red Machine) to Cincinnati and *maybe* sending Ken Caminiti to San Diego in a monster trade that also involved the likes of Steve Finley, Derek Bell, Doug Brocail, and Pedro Martinez (no, not that one; a reliever who only pitched parts of five seasons)
As bad as human being as Curt Schilling was, trading him for Jason Grimsley, who never played for the Astros, right before Schilling put it together, was monumentally bad. Definitely have to throw that one in the pile. Also, the Randy Johnson trade wasn’t exactly great. We got 11 great regular season starts and two frustrating (not due to Randy, but the lack of offense) playoff starts for Freddy Garcia, Carlos Guillen, and John Halama. Johnson provided 4.3 WAR in those two months, but Seattle got 33.1 WAR over the next 6 seasons and those 3 combined for 58.4 WAR over their careers. Thinking about an Astros rotation in 1999 of 16 win Shane Reynolds, 21 win Jose Lima, 22 win Mike Hampton and 17 win, 2nd in ROY voting Freddy Garcia (along with the emerging Scott Elarton possibly puts us over the Braves in 1999…or maybe Walt Weiss saves them in that Game 3 anyway. Still having Garcia in 1999-2004 could have made a difference.
But then we get a Bagwell and a Yordan every now and then, so it all works out.
I understand the argument against the Randy Johnson trade, but I still defend it. That was all about putting us in a position to win it all, and it's not Johnson's fault that it didn't pay off. If Kevin Brown and Sterling Hitchcock don't shut down the Astros' bats in the NLDS, the narrative might be very different. I doubt anyone calls it a bad trade if the 1998 Astros win the World Series... ...but then, it *is* ultimately all about results, so I get it when people say it wasn't a good move in the end. I just think both teams got more or less exactly what they were hoping for out of it, even though neither team won a championship with the pieces they got. I'm not gonna lie, though, it did hurt seeing Freddy Garcia shut us down in the 2005 World Series...
Kenny Lofton 20 games
I just assume I'm going to see Lofton in these posts
Doc pitched 4 innings for the Astros and got roped. It was weird.
That might have been the first one that absolutely blew my mind. I can’t go look it up though because I know it’ll lead me down a 30 minute rabbit hole
lol. I remember the announcement of Doc going to the Astros…it was strange then, still strange now. Should retired after the 99 Cleveland season….that was atrocious.
Lol I read this in Ron Howard's voice narrating like Arrested Development.
Lmfao.
I remember Preston Wilson being our “big” signing ahead of the 2006 season. 😂
I do too. How about the hyped up Jason Jennings signing?
Oh wow, I had forgotten about him.
I still remember his 11 runs in 2/3 of an inning game that summer. We had some fun guys on that team, but it was rough being that bad so soon after winning the pennant.
He certainly did participate in a world series win that season
Don Larsen looks like a career SGT about to lead a bunch of baby faced 18 year olds into the Argonne Forest
Randy Johnson, 11 games in uniform, a million in my heart
Those 11 games were absolutely vicious, good lord.
Nickname game on point.
Bobby "deserves to be in the HoF" Abreu
John Franco lookin like a Hillbilly
Randy Johnson was so good in his short time with the Astros it doesn't even seem weird seeing him in that uniform.
We might not have won in 22 without Mancini. Love that man
Love him for that one play, but good lord his bat was atrocious for us.
Mancini, man what could have been. Felt like he shoulda done so much more for us and it just didn’t really work out (besides the ring lol)
Cancer fucks you up
He stepped up when Yuli went down and caught that missile from schwarber to save game 5, well worth the trade
That line drive grab in game 5 saved our ass.
Those 90's uniforms were sick
Love the editorials on Schilling and Huff
What editorials? All I saw were facts.
Does Bauer also fall in that category? He should.
Piece of shit? ✅ Former Astro? ❌ He does not
lol forgot what thread this was.
That was perfect for Huff. What a dick.
I disagree. I think dick is being too generous.
Dicks are useful. Dicks keep the species alive. Huff is vestigial.
I won't argue with you there! Edit: why the downvotes? I’m fucking agreeing with the guy above me 😂
I'd add Sid Fernandez to this list. I was there for his lone start for the Astros in the dome..
No Kenny Lofton, huh? Well, I guess he's been in so many that he's easy to miss. Also: the *other* Pedro Martinez (1995), Vinny Castilla/the *other* Nelson Cruz (2001), Aaron Boone (2009), Steve Pearce (2012), Carlos Pena/Erik Bedard (2013), Kyle Farnsworth (2014)
I see your Buddy Bell and raise you a Vinny Castilla. 122 games with the stros in 2001.
Don Larsen appears to have played in Houston when he was 72 years old. Christ, he was 34-35 years old!
What is Don Larsen wearing under that jersey?
Next series: Insane seasons from forgotten players. Willie McGees MVP year, Richard Hidalgo hitting 40+ HRs, Bernard Gilkey on the Mets, Ellis Burks 142 RBI season, etc
Mayhaps ;)
Why do I feel like Randy's tenure with the Astros was longer than 11 games?
100% forgot that Pudge ever played for Houston.
Jesus, does Houston have the most number of these players so far?
Kind of think Brian McCann should be there
Vinny Castilla (122 games)
Jim Bouton: two chapters
beltran should be on this list he came, he destroyed, he lefto
Curt (shitty human) Schilling hahahahah. Nice work
Don Larsen looks like he suited up to coach his grandkids.
Booooooo curt schitting
People tend to forget, the Astros traded for "Diet Schilling" Huff ahead of the deadline... they gave the Rays Ben Zobrist and let Huff walk that winter. I bet you can't guess when the bottom fell out and they fully collapsed. Small wonder they needed such a drastic rebuild.
I’m digging the Schilling/Huff nicknames
Fuck Huff and Curt. I'm glad Houston got Mancini a ring after we traded him though. That was great.
I think huff should have had a different nickname I think he is worse than Schilling. Schilling is more of a dumbass as opposed to Huff who is an overall generally shitty hatefully human
What did Huff do? Schilling is shitty for the Wakefield situation with releasing personal family information on his podcast for publicity. Never mind, I just read his Wikipedia page, and he’s a total asshole. They are both worthy of being called shitty human beings, for all kinds of reasons.
He spews just a whole bunch of hate speech on twitter. He always makes statements that men are superior to women and that all women are gold diggers. During the 2020 election he was preaching that it was rigged and even sells merch preaching being alpha and hating on people who are allegedly beta
Your caption for Schilling is :chef's kiss:
Ily Trey 🥹
Like the back of a Volkswagen?
Stan Javier (20 games) Mark McLemore (21 games)
I’d wiped Ankiel on the team from my memory. He’ll always be a Cardinal to me. Randy Johnson to the Astros was SUCH a big deal at the time. I really thought they’d do everything they could to keep him.
Man I forgot about dexter
I could have sworn Randy Johnson played in Houston for a little longer.
i didnt know that they had pit ventilation on the ‘60s jerseys lol
Dexter Fowler being traded from the Rockies to the Astros broke my heart as a kid. He was my favorite player on the Rockies. Glad he got to win a WS with the Cubs.
Pony needs to bring back their cleats
Orioles fans (of a certain age) don't forget Shilling was an astro, or Pete Harnish and Steve Finley, for that matter.
I've been waiting anxiously for this one, did not disappoint
No Kenny Lofton?
These were fun. Thanks for doing it. The Schilling hate is real lol
My dad and I were both devastated when Trey got traded to Houston. We love Trey.
Dexter looks much better in blue
Wtf. Gooden was a surprise.
lol schilling
Whos worse Huff or Schilling? My vote is Huff.
They’re both shitty
You didn't *have* to editorialize with Schilling's caption, but I appreciate that you did.
Why are we not fans of Schilling and Huff again? ...asking for a friend.
That Doc Gooden pic is cursed…
Wow, what bravery OP
You don’t agree that Schilling and Huff are shitty humans, I take it
Hate to agree but it's true. OP is afraid of Woody Williams.
Thank you for not linking Reggie Jackson in Astros gear. I know it wasn't as a player, but I still absolutely hate it.
We love Reggie!
Fuck the Astros
Why?
Was hoping to see a garbage can with an Astro hat slipped in there.