Forgotten Astros: Randy Johnson

You can find previous chapters of this series here:

Carlos Lee

The Big Unit

The Astros pulled off one of the best trades in their franchise history in 1998 when they landed the “Big Unit" himself, Randy Johnson. Johnson was 34 that year with the Mariners and was set to become a free agent later that year, so the trade was reasonable. The Astros at that time were five and a half games above the St Louis Cardinals for the NL Central and boasted a powerful lineup featuring stars such as Craig Biggio, Jeff Bagwell, and Derek Bell.

Randy Johnson would get traded midway through the season during the trade deadline and bolstered a 10-1 record with a 1.28 ERA with the Astros and even a 1.93 postseason ERA with the ‘Stros.

The Astros would ultimalty be eliminated from the playoffs in the divisional round by the San Diego Padres.

Unfortunately, the Astros didn"t resign Johnson, who ended up returning to the Diamondbacks in which he"d pitch until he was 46 and even won four straight CY Young titles.

Final Thoughts

It"s sometimes difficult to process the fact that Randy Johnson was an Astro, even if it was for half a season. Let me know in the comments below or on Twitter @KeganCrawford who you would like to see on next weeks edition of Forgotten Astros.

Main image credit Embed from Getty Images