Q&A: Hunsicker discusses trading for Johnson

Former Astros general manager Gerry Hunsicker knows how unforgiving the non-waiver Trade Deadline can be. It was July 1998, and the Astros knew they were good enough to win their division, but they wanted to be better.

The Astros wanted to win a World Series. They wanted what they felt like was a missing piece — left-hander Randy Johnson. Houston acquired Johnson, but it didn’t win the championship, despite the fact that Johnson went 10-1 with a 1.28 ERA and 116 strikeouts in 84 1/3 innings over the final two months of the regular season.

In the postseason, Johnson made two starts against the Padres in the National League Division Series, allowing three earned runs in 14 innings. He also suffered two losses, including the elimination game. Hunsicker’s memories of that trade is the subject of this week’s Q&A:

MLB.com: What’s the thought process that goes into that time when you’re a buyer?

Hunsicker: We weren’t typically in the market to make a big trade like this. It took a lot of soul-searching and convincing ownership to pursue a trade of this magnitude. I always felt like the Trade Deadline was a dangerous time of year to make a big trade, because you start pressuring yourself into thinking you have to make this trade. I also feel like you have to pick your spots.

I also felt the time to pull off a trade like this was when you had an exceptional team that, maybe without a trade, you felt confident you’d make the playoffs, but a trade of this magnitude really could be a difference-maker once you got to the playoffs as opposed to feeling the pressure to make a trade because you’re on the cusp of making the playoffs. Then you’re trying to put yourself over the top to get there, because in this business, we find out very quickly that the overwhelming majority of times you make a trade, it doesn’t really get you where you need to.

MLB.com: And with Johnson, you felt he could be that postseason difference-maker?

Hunsicker: We had an exceptional team. I really believed that we had the pieces to get to the postseason. When a guy like Randy Johnson became available, it’s kind of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. We didn’t have a dominant ace. On top of that, being left-handed, looking ahead, if we were to get to the World Series, the Yankees were …

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