Jon Garland and a group of friends had already started down the road for a trip from California to Las Vegas on the morning of Thursday, Dec. 7, when his sister called him with news that could have instantly changed his career path. "She said that I had been traded," explained Garland as to how he first heard of the proposed deal reportedly sending him to Houston for center fielder Willy Taveras and pitchers Taylor Buchholz and Jason Hirsh. "I was taken aback because that trade came out of nowhere. "I made a few calls and found out nothing was going on. Talks were there, but they are always there."