Is Kikuchi one of the Astros' best in-season acquisitions ever?

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HOUSTON -- The Astros’ deal to acquire veteran left-handed pitcher Yusei Kikuchi can already be considered one of the best in-season trades in club history. The Astros have won all nine games Kikuchi has started, helping them close in on another American League West title.

Kikuchi is 5-0 with a 3.00 ERA in those nine starts, holding opponents to a .189 batting average and 0.94 WHIP, with 68 strikeouts in 54 innings with Houston. He’s the first pitcher in Astros history to have the club win his nine starts with the team and has one regular-season outing remaining.

“Obviously, I didn’t know where I was going to get traded, but I was a little surprised to learn it was Houston,” Kikuchi said. “I have to say thanks to a lot of the people that are in this clubhouse, but especially the pitching coaches. They told me to tweak a few things to be successful.”

Here are three other impactful midseason trades Houston made for a starting pitcher:

Randy Johnson (1998)
Astros general manager Gerry Hunsicker believed his team, with a powerful lineup led by Craig Biggio, Jeff Bagwell and Moises Alou, was a World Series threat in 1998, so he pulled off a blockbuster deal with the Fall Classic -- and the 114-win Yankees -- in mind.

“When you have a good team, pile on to give yourself as much reinforcement as you can to get through the playoffs,” Hunsicker said. “Of course, that year the Yankees were arguably the best team in the American League and they had a lot of talented left-handed hitters, and adding a dominant left-handed starter like Randy Johnson really would give us a great chance against them if we got to that point."

Johnson made 11 starts and went 10–1 with a 1.28 ERA with the Astros. The Astrodome was filled every time he started.

“I was going from the Kingdome, which was a bandbox, and now I was pitching in the Houston Astrodome,” Johnson said. “I was also going and playing for a first-place team. Billy Wagner was my closer. So everything just kind of fell into place, and it was the best two months of my career.”

Johnson had a 1.93 ERA in two starts in the postseason, but the Astros were shut down by the Padres and lost in the NLDS.

Justin Verlander (2017)
As the city of Houston reeled in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, the Astros stumbled to an 11-17 record in August and needed a pick-me-up. Enter Verlander, the Tigers ace and 2011 winner of the AL Cy Young and MVP.

The deal was agreed upon right before the midnight ET deadline, with Verlander agreeing to waive his no-trade clause with a little urging from Astros pitcher Dallas Keuchel. Verlander went 5-0 with a 1.06 ERA in five regular-season starts for the Astros that year and won both of his starts in the ALCS against the Yankees en route to being named MVP of the series.

"Obviously, this was a pretty emotional decision for me, being in one place for so long. It really felt like family there," Verlander said about leaving Detroit. "The opportunity to come play for a championship-caliber team -- for not only this year but for the remainder of my contract -- is ultimately what it really came down to."

Verlander went on to win two Cy Young Awards, two World Series titles, throw his third no-hitter and reach 3,000 career strikeouts in his first stint in Houston.

Zack Greinke (2019)
The Astros pulled off four trades on July 31, 2019, none bigger than acquiring six-time All-Star and former AL Cy Young winner Greinke, who joined Verlander, Gerrit Cole and Wade Miley atop a loaded rotation that helped Houston win a club-record 107 games.

“I think he’s a Hall of Famer and I think he’s one of the best pitchers of our generation,” Cole said.

Greinke was 8-1 with a 3.02 ERA in 10 regular-season starts with the Astros in 2019 and nearly pitched them to a championship. He started Game 7 of the 2019 World Series and carried a shutout into the seventh inning before being pulled after 80 pitches, following a solo homer by Anthony Rendon and a walk to Juan Soto.

You know the rest. The Nats took the lead when Howie Kendrick hit a two-run homer off reliever Will Harris, and went on to win the game and the title.