Elarton was fine and on track to be a valuable arm... till Dierker overused him. I don't see how it was "far worse". Even with overuse, Elarton at least contributed during some playoff years.
Elarton did well in first year of Enron Field and that was it with 2.7 WAR in 2000 -- he was 2.0 or lower for the rest of his career, going into negative career for half of it. Mariners wanted Elarton straight up... instead, Houston gave them John Halama (5.4 WAR w/SEA), Carlos Guillen (27.7 WAR w/SEA), and Freddy Garcia (18.6 WAR w/SEA).
Fidrych had multiple injuries, the worst of which went undiagnosed until four years after his retirement. I'm not sure I would call him a one-hit wonder, but Thon's career was flat detailed by a freaking bean ball. Their stories are not the same.
There was no Elarton for Johnson trade straight up. Ever. Elarton + Hidalgo + we had to give Clemens a new contract. That's why Hun went apesh!t on the Hendricks Brothers at the time. Oops.
I may have been mistaken on Elarton straight up, but would have liked John Halama (who already made the bigs) and/or Freddy Garcia (who won an ERA title) in their rookie contracts over Elarton. Of course, exposing Bobby Abreu in the expansion draft instead of Ramon Garcia was a mistake during the Hunsicker era. (That plus losing Johann Santana in the Rule V was Hunsicker's version of losing JD Martinez). Both Hidalgo and Elarton were already getting MLB service time by that point. Anyways... I have too much free time... http://www.astroscounty.com/p/15-years-ago-randy-johnson-trade.html https://www.nytimes.com/1998/08/02/...beat-deadline-in-the-johnson-sweepstakes.html https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=19980802&slug=2764383 https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=19980802&slug=2764383 https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1998-08-02-9808020410-story.html https://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-xpm-2001-07-29-0107291989-story.html https://www.espn.com/mlb/s/1999/1102/148580.html Fun what-if... getting Griffey for Scott Elarton + Ward? 5. Houston Astros The Astros have potential free-agent problems of their own on the horizon, with Craig Biggio eligible next season and Jeff Bagwell the season after that. But the Astros, set to move to a new ballpark in April, could buy themselves a gate attraction for their homestead for years to come, and make a serious run at a title in the next two seasons. Houston isn't real close to Orlando, but it isn't as far as some cities, either, and the Astros' Grapefruit League home of Kissimmee, Fla., is a golf-cart ride from Griffey's place. The Astros could offer pitching in the form of Scott Elarton, who could anchor the Mariners' perennially troublesome bullpen, and young bats like Daryle Ward and Lance Berkman. Remember, it's not as if these teams haven't done big business before. Randy Johnson was shipped to Houston at the trading deadline in 1997, a deal that got the Mariners on their rebuilding road.
Sean Berry was very good his first season as an Astro. I don't know what happened. He started splitting time with Spiers or something? I just remember him being good then forgettable pretty quickly.
Not a one hit wonder at all. He had great potential at 25, took one to the face, and even after that still had a decent career for many more years. He could have been great though.
Depends on how you choose to define it I suppose. Fidrych was pitching even BETTER the next season before he had to be shut down.
What about Blum and Ensberg in 2003? Big Ty Wigginton and Blum in 2009? Valbuena/Gonzalez/Bregman/Gurriel in 2016? Walling and Garner in 1986?
Anybody remember Rodrigo Rosario? Got called up for a spot start against the Rangers in 2003, pitched brilliantly, then disappeared.
We have a winner! 2 career starts, his first was great, then pulled from his next one and never pitched again.