Fair enough but these things are fluid. Altuve and Keuchel had tremendous development. Hell, Altuve in 2014 and 2017 are still markedly different players. I don’t think you can look at any given team and say “well they have no chance to be competitive within 4-5 years bc they whiffed on a prospect here or a prospect there, and IF YOU COMPARE THEM TO THE ASTROS FROM [insert year]…” There are too many moving parts for that to make sense, and the trade deadline gives teams a chance to improve their farm quickly. Teams get desperate. Tatis was traded to the Padres for 34 yr old James Shields! So you never really know for sure.
Of course... agree with all of that. The general point is that just sucking or losing games does not guarantee a successful speedy rebuild. Just because they're now where the Astros were in 2012 doesn't mean that in 3 years they'll be where the Astros were in 2015... or in 5 years be where the Astros were in 2017. The Astros ascension to juggernaut/super-team had just as much to do with who was already here prior to the Correa/LMJ drafts, along with key trades/FA signings, as it does to do with all the high draft picks they got from those 2012-2014 years of intentionally sucking. Maybe the Rangers already have those guys and they just don't know it... on the flip-side, Luhnow and company experimented the hell out of those years and gave a ton of guys playing time to figure out what they had or didn't have, so they did try to ensure they didn't 'miss' out on anybody (and even then, they lost guys like JD Martinez who put in work elsewhere to improve).
