Houston Astros: 5 moves we wish were April Fools jokes

4: Banking on a Carlos Gomez bounce back to catapult the rebuild

The Houston Astros began their rebuild ended a couple of years early when the team was surprisingly contending in 2015. In order to capitalize on this, the team shipped Domingo Santana, Brett Phillips, and Josh Hader to the Brewers for Carlos Gomez.

Gomez had a pair of breakout seasons in 2013 and 2014 which saw him become one of the better outfielders in the game. He was a five-tool player with an aggressive, yet effective approach to the plate to go with great defense.

His play dipped to start the 2015 but the Astros, reasonably, thought he could bounce back to his 13-14 performance with a change of scenery. It, unfortunately, went horribly and Gomez actually got worse in Houston. He didn’t hit well at all and his play was erratic. This was an unmitigated disaster that held the team back in 2016.

There is one redeeming part of this trade and his name is Mike Fiers. Fiers pitched very well for the Houston Astros as a middle to back end of the rotation guy. His capstone as an Astros was when he threw a no-hitter against the Dodgers. It was the 11th in team history and first at Minute Maid Park.

Maybe it’s recency bias, maybe it’s not. But, this is, without a doubt, the worst move the Houston Astros have made in recent memory. In my mind, Fiers saves this trade from falling lower on this list. Hader has turned into a standout reliever, Santana is a good, everyday outfielder, Phillips was a top prospect and has dropped off a bit but still has potential.