Bob Nightengale

USA TODAY Sports

HOUSTON -- Jeff Luhnow pulls his new blue Audi S5 into the Houston Astros employee parking lot, steps out of his car and peeks at his vanity license plate.

GM 111

"Every day when I get into the car, and every day when I drive home,'' Luhnow tells USA TODAY Sports, "I look at that number on my plate, and it reminds me what's important.

"It's really what's driving everything we do here.''

Uh, 111?

You mean the franchise-record number of games the Astros lost last year? That hideous number?

"Yes, I want to be reminded every day what really matters is the win-loss record at the big-league level,'' Luhnow says, "and I want this club to go from 111 losses to 111 wins.

"I don't know exactly how many years it's going to take, but that is the goal.''

And until the Astros win 111 games -- nine more victories than any Astros season -- the license plate will remain on the car.

"That's confidence right there,'' says starter Scott Feldman, whose three-year, $30 million free agent contract signified Luhnow's biggest expenditure since his December 2011 hire. "He told us that license plate stays until we do it.

"Hopefully, that sends a good message, not just to the fans, but to everyone in this clubhouse.''

Considering the way the Astros have bolted out of the gate this week against the New York Yankees, slaying a team with a payroll five times its size in the first two games, maybe the wait won't be nearly as long as anticipated.

"My dream scenario is a (Chicago) Cubs-Astros World Series in 2017,'' Luhnow says. "I think it would be a fascinating story how these two organizations were able to turn things around.''

But those lovable Cubs, who have gone 106 years without a World Series title, haven't plumbed the depths of the Astros.

The Astros used to be a National League power and had the second-best record in baseball over a 10-year period, only to be the game's laughingstock the last three years. They've lost 324 games the last three seasons. They've finished a cumulative 127 games out of first place during the stretch.

"It's been tough, real tough,'' says Astros icon Craig Biggio, who finished two votes shy of Hall of Fame election in January. "We had taken a lot of pride in the fact that we changed the culture here, and fans expected us to be the New York Yankees, expecting us to get to the playoffs every year, and then go to this.

"Nobody wants to lose 100, let alone 100 for three in a row. The fans feel it, the organization feels it, but the players who take the field every day feel it the worst.''

Those days, Luhnow and manager Bo Porter proclaim, are coming to an abrupt halt.

'Worst team in major-league baseball'

They're not going to apologize for the method to their madness, stripping the franchise down to its skivvies. The major league team was in a steep decline, and the farm system was in disarray.

"You inherit a team that was the worst team in Major League Baseball,'' Luhnow says. "You inherit a team that has a bottom-tier system. It's impossible to work on everything at once. You have to figure out where you're going to invest and where you're going to get the best return. We had to aggregate as much young talent as we could, even if that came at the expense of some wins.''

And at the expense of plenty of critics.

"The Cubs and Houston are major markets not choosing to spend,'' high-powered agent Scott Boras says. "They might as well go around carrying a sign, 'Please, help me finish last.' Where's the integrity in that?''

Says Luhnow: "Would I have loved to have built the best farm system in baseball while also playing around .500? Absolutely. Was it possible? Probably not. But the strategy that we were employing doesn't mean that we were ever trying to lose any games or throw any games. That's not the case.''

Now, three years into this franchise makeover, they've got one of the pristine farm systems in baseball, with seven players widely considered among baseball's top 100 prospects, highlighted by 19-year-old shortstop Carlos Correa, who starts this season at high Class A Lancaster (Calif.).

And now, they've got no choice but to actually care about that win-loss record.

"We ain't going to lose 111 games again,'' veteran pitcher Jerome Williams says, "I'll tell you that. Those days are over.''

This isn't braggadocio after whipping the Yankees on back-to-back nights but a conscious decision by the organization that it no longer can sacrifice the major league brand for the sake of a glorious farm system.

"After three years of 100-plus losses,'' Luhnow says, "I think we're starting to risk alienating some fans that will make it hard to get them back. And I think that's real.''

The Astros can't wait 20 years like the Pittsburgh Pirates did to have a winning season. They can't go 29 years like the Kansas City Royals have done without a playoff berth. They don't have to win the pennant now, but they better be on their way soon.

"Even though we consider this the beginning of Year 3 of our strategy,'' Luhnow says, "our fans don't think about it that way. They think it started in 2006 after being in the World Series. They've been suffering through a long, steady decline before bottoming out.

"So from our perspective, we have to accelerate it somehow. We do feel a sense of urgency. We're going to be much more mindful of the impact on our fans to have a respectable season and be a lot more careful trading present value for future value.''

This means Dexter Fowler, who was acquired by the Astros from the Colorado Rockies in a salary dump, might actually be staying beyond the trade deadline. It means Feldman won't be shopped to every playoff contender who needs a starter. It even means their veteran bullpen core of Chad Qualls, Matt Albers, Jesse Crain and Williams could be around all year.

"If Dexter Fowler has a tremendous first half,'' Luhnow says, "and clubs come to us that are in it want to give us one of their top draft picks, we're going to have to be very cautious in making moves like that. Whereas in the past, we would have done it without hesitation.

"We feel like we owe it to our fans and to our market to demonstrate that progress is happening.''

Certainly, if the Astros need any references to get the word out, just give the Yankees a holler. They're still wondering what hit them the first two days of their Texas trip. They were shut out for 11 2/3 innings by starters Jarred Cosart and Feldman, collecting six hits.

"No one expected us to come in here and win a series against the Yankees,'' says Cosart, a centerpiece of their future, "and no one expected much from us period. But we know what we can do as a team. If we can keep playing like this, and keep finding ways to win games, who knows what could happen?

"I'm not predicting we're going to the playoffs, but ....''

Kids, they'll say the darnedest things.

"I love it,'' says Fowler. "The guys in here are young, but they're actually pretty mature. It's fun to see that energy around here.

"There's a sense of urgency to win.''

And not to simply avoid another humiliating 100-loss season.

"We're not not talking about how many games we're not going to lose,'' Astros second baseman Jose Altuve says. "We're talking about how many games we're going to win.

"It may mean the same thing, but there's a difference.''

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