As we all may remember in 2012, the Astros were entering the infant stage of the rebuild and well on their way out of the National League. The team was also entering the second of three consecutive 100+ plus loss seasons and known as the laughingstock of baseball. Wandy Rodriguez may recall that those were not the best times to be an Astro.
But after much speculation when the Astros would finally trade the lone holdover from their 2005 NL Champion squad, the team finally found a suitable trade partner in the Pittsburgh Pirates during the summer of 2012.