re: Will the Astros become the new Royals, Pirates, etc?

I conceded the farm system discussion in the OP. That's really not the point of this thread.

I'm just curious why Astros fans are so blindly optimistic when the new owners have slashed payroll so drastically.

I understand the "build from within" concept, but this is ridiculous. They are clearly just looking to pocket the revenue sharing money. Not a good sign for a new ownership group.

Yeah, their farm system really rebounded the last couple of years.

But this is an interesting debate. Peter Gammons had some tweets about that fine line you walk doing what they do and that they can pass it off as "smart rebuilding" but it's basically losing on purpose and whether or not that compromises the integrity of the game.