Ed Wade has most recently been in the news for being fired as the General Manager of the Houston Astros.  Before his brief stint with the Astros, Wade was the General Manager of the Philadelphia Phillies for eight years.

However, Wade is more known for helping out the Phils after he left the City of Brotherly Love.  During his four-year tenure in Houston, Wade traded the Phillies numerous All-Star players getting very little in return.

Many Phillies fans joke Wade never left the Phillies organization.  Click ahead to see the best deals Wade made with the Phillies and why, even after he left the team, he is the best GM in Phillies history.

No. 5: Dumping Minor Leaguers on the Astros

In the trade where the Phillies acquired Brad Lidge and Eric Bruntlett, Philadelphia gave the Astros three players: Michael Bourn, Mike Costanzo and Geoff Geary.

Geoff Geary is currently out of Major League Baseball. He plays for the York Revolution in the Independent Atlantic League.

Mike Costanzo is also out of Major League Baseball as he was recently released from the Baltimore Orioles.  Costanzo was a second-round draft pick by the Phillies with the hope that he would one day be the face of the franchise at the hot corner.  

Costanzo is a local guy who attended Archbishop Carroll High School and all Philly natives were hoping for his success.  Unfortunately he jumped around from team to team and never made it past Triple A.

The one player from that trade who has had a successful MLB career is Michael Bourn.  However, right when Bourne was developing into a decent MLB player, Ed Wade went and traded him to the Braves for a couple minor leaguers.  

Thanks to Ed Wade, the Phillies acquired one of the most dominant closers in MLB and a solid bench player (who is one of only two players in MLB history to record an unassisted triple play), all for the cost of a decent MLB player and two MLB dropouts.

No. 4: Trading Roy Oswalt to the Phils at the Trade Deadline

This trade was very similar to the Brad Lidge trade because the Phillies sent the Astros two minor leaguers and one proven major leaguer.

In exchange for Oswalt, the Phillies sent Anthony Gose, Jonathan Villar and J.A. Happ to Houston.

Anthony Gose was rated as a top prospect so it looked as if Ed Wade was getting a good deal.  Wade promptly traded Gose to the Blue Jays.

Jonathan Villar is also a top prospect, but he made an astronomical 56 errors last year in the minors, which won't get him called up to the big leagues anytime soon.  Scouts say he has great tools but he is very raw. 

Trading J.A. Happ was tough for Ruben Amaro Jr. but it certainly paid off.  He had a reasonably successful career in Philadelphia and already proved he is a solid MLB pitcher.  The Phillies obtained a proven All-Star pitcher in return that helped the Phillies in their push to extend into the postseason. 

No. 3: Making Brett Myers a Houston Astro

I'm not doubting that Brett Myers is a solid MLB pitcher.  However, he is not worth anywhere near the two-year, $21 million contract Ed Wade rewarded him in the middle of the 2010 regular season.

After the Phillies informed Myers they were not going to re-sign him, the joke in Philadelphia was that Wade would sign him, which is exactly what he did.

Myers was involved in an altercation with one of Philly's most beloved sports writers, Sam Carchidi.  Myers pitched a bad game and Carchidi questioned him about his performance, which resulted in Myers yelling at Carchidi using profanities. 

All in all, Myers was just not the right fit for Philadelphia and certainly is not worth the $21 million Ed Wade offered him.

No. 2: Trading Hunter Pence to the Perfect City

There's nothing Philly fans love more than a good, hard-working, blue-collar athlete, which is exactly what they acquired in Hunter Pence.

All Philadelphia fans remember when Aaron Rowand broke his nose diving into the center field fence at Citizens Bank Ball Park.  He instantly became a fan favorite and Pence certainly has that ability.  

Pence's first at bat as a Phillie was a bang-bang ground out that he might have beaten out.  Once the umpire called him out he took off his helmet angrily in disgust, which immediately made him a fan favorite in Philadelphia.

He also filled a hole in right field that neither Francisco nor Brown could fill.

The Phillies sent four minor league players to Houston in exchange for Pence: Jonathan Singleton, Jarred Cosart, Domingo Santana and Josh Zeid.  These are all top-rated prospects, but none of them have any MLB experience.

Ed Wade may be proven the winner in this trade in the coming years, but for now, the Phillies are the winners in this trade.

No. 1: Ed Wade Deserves Some Credit for His Time in Philadelphia

While Ed Wade did ship three All Stars to his former team and accepted mostly no-namers in return, he still made some wise moves when he was the general manager for the Phillies.

Under the Wade regime, he was responsible for drafting Pat Burrell, Brett Myers, Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and Cole Hamels.  In addition to drafting these players, Wade also hired Charlie Manuel to be the manager of the club. Manuel would eventually lead the Phillies to two World Series, winning one of them. 

Unfortunately he is also criticized for trading away All-Star Curt Schilling and signing David Bell and Mike Lieberthal to long-term contracts later in their careers.

It seems that Ed Wade has always been loyal to the Philadelphia Phillies.  Now that he is unemployed, maybe he will return to the team that hired him as a public relations intern in 1977.