I was just talking about this over beers with a couple friends the other day. That was a year that got by (besides 04 and 05) and wondered, why didn't Big Unit stay in Houston? I don't remember the circumstances why he left, and just trying to figure out why we let him go (or he chose to leave). Dude was straight up beast that year and I would have figured we'd try to keep him. Any insights? Tried to google why, but couldn't really find anything.
About a dozen years ago the Astros pitching coach at the time told me that Randy Johnson really just wanted to play in Arizona where he was living at the time.
Yeah, basically what people in here have already said. I think he was always going to go play in Arizona.....even if he never got traded from Seattle in the first place.
I'd assume it was because we were too cheap. I mean, it's not like we went out and shelled out the big bucks for a front line starter thereafter. It took until 2005ish, and still required home town discounts.
Are you ****ing kidding? Again? His wife was going to Arizona, thus he he was going to Arizona. Hunsicker knew that we would never, ever, sign him.
If we backed a truckload of money to his front door, I'm pretty sure he could have worked it out. Of course doing that for a 35 year old pitcher would have been crazy? Who knew he'd end up having the best seasons of his career in his late 30s?
My memory is that the Astros offered him a very competitive salary but the consensus was that he was leaving anyways. But I've also heard, probably from this board, that Astros scouts were hesitant to give him a long term deal. I think it's likely he was gone no matter what.
He and his family started making their offseason home in the Phoenix burbs while he was with Seattle. It was widely reported that he and the wife wanted to be there full-time.
I'm not saying he didn't want to be. I'm just saying enough money would have changed his mind. Nobody knew he was going to win the next 4 Cy Youngs and pitch another decade, so it would have been stupid to throw him out a massive contract. Kevin Brown got a record contract that same offseason (7 years $105M) compared to Randy's 4 year $52M. Randy's deal was still very large for the time though.
Astros offered 3 years at $33,000,000. Arizona offered around $49,000,000 over 4 years with a $3,000,000 buyout. Essentially around $13,000,000 per year which made him the second highest paid player at the time.
