



Thomas Paine coined the phrase "These are the times that try men's souls" many moons ago, and no doubt had the Astros fanbase in mind. A 10-0 throttling by the Cincinnati Reds Tuesday clinched the Astros third consecutive 100 loss season. Growing up in the '90s experiencing hard nosed, perennial contending, Biggio and Bagwell baseball, that's still something i'm trying to wrap my mind around. Our Astros have been abysmal and have been so for three long and grueling years. The darkest of depths have been frequented recently for the Astros faithful and rock-bottom has become a familiar place. Infamous moments such as the Matt Downs blocked kick, the Jimmy Paredes truck stick, and recently the Jonathan Villar butt slide have summed up the past three campaigns. Blood pressures have reached all time highs, where as hopes have consistently been crushed and reached all-time lows. Jokes have been hurled our way over and over as we have endured the the raging storm that is the Astros slander. We've had to sit quiet as fans of franchises with lesser history and success have run their mouths about their current and fleeting taste of winning baseball. We have had to watch several revolving doors at many positions as we wait for the once barren, restocked pond to produce fruit. We have endured horrific bullpens, and horrid stretches of starting pitching. We have experienced far too many line-up cards with a three or four hole hitter that has no place in a starting line-up in general. If you're one who enjoys poking fun at the franchise, and kicking the fans while they're down, you're going to need to get your over-played, asinine, witless jabs in while you still can. This is the beginning of an end, it all stops here.I fully believe that as long as the current front office mentality is instilled in the organization, that this will be the last 100 loss season that I will live to see. The blueprint set forth in 2012 by General Manager Jeff Luhnow is one that has like a whirlwind turned the farm into the best in all of baseball, and the fingerprints are beginning to surface at the major league level. Regardless of any opinion that an analyst may offer, you simply can't reason with me that any system has the combination of depth and upside that we have accumulated. The cavalry is coming and my Lord they are coming in hot. The barren systems in Oakland and Anaheim forebode a morbid future, and the short-sighted trade deadline deal as well as a soon to be aging Dallas baseball team will not be playing at as high of a level in a few years in my opinion. The West is wide open and the young talent laden Astros of the future will be chomping at the bit to establish a foothold in the division for the long-term. Current Astros like Matty D, Jason Castro, Jose Altuve, Jonathan Villar and to an extent Robbie Grossman have established themselves at the major league level and should figure into bright lineups of the future. The young starting pitching at the major league level this year has been solid and absolutely superb in the second half. The emergence of top prospect Jarred Cosart, as well as Brad Peacock and Brett Oberholtzer has been a huge bright spot this year. Those young arms figure to all compete and have an upper hand for a rotation spot coming into spring. The plethora of pitching talent in the system is just stupid. Absolutely absurd. Fine seasons from Lance McCullers, David Rollins, Mike Foltynewicz, Asher Wojciehowski, Vincent Velasquez, Josh Hader, and Mark Appel foreshadows a blindingly bright future. The position depth as well is as encouraging as it gets. Marvelous campaigns from Carlos Correa, Preston Tucker, Rio Ruiz, Delino Deshields, Max Stassi, Domingo Santana, and the man amongst boys George Springer forebodes terrifying nightmares for AL pitchers in the coming future. The plan set in place is in full-swing, it is working, and further results are soon to come. Oh and did I mention that future ace Carlos Rodon will likely be netted with another first overall pick? It doesn't entirely suck to suck.Don't be taken in a sham by the record. The Astros have not played 51-100 baseball. A historically bad bullpen has been the difference in I would argue 15-20 wins at this point. Slot a replacement level bullpen into this current roster and this season is a much different story. A bullpen is commonly a revolving door, and is by far the easiest and cheapest aspect of a roster to fix. The volatility among relievers is astounding, and next years 'pen will certainly be much more serviceable. A couple low end deals, and retention of the worthwhile pieces such as Kevin Chapman, Chia-Jen Lo, and Josh Zeid, will infuse life into the 2014 Astros bullpen. I take solace in knowing that our hindrance this year was a revolving door bullpen that can easily be shined, patched up, and presented good as new for the upcoming season.Many young young Astros have absolutely progressed this year, and that alone is a successful campaign in my mind. Guys on the farm continue their progress as well as we cap another successful campaign for the future of the organization. The last few years have flat out sucked. They have sucked the life from me, and certainly taken several years of my time left on this earth, but the light at the end of the metaphorical tunnel is beginning to pierce the thick haze of rubble left from the previous administration. The end of this dark time in Astros history is coming to a close, and when we begin to win again, it will simply be that much sweeter. Sweet baby Jesus I can't wait to be the most obnoxious Astros fan presence on social media when we contend again. Gammons, Olney, and Heyman will have me blocked in no time. Brace yourselves for it folks, the storm has passed, and we are transitioning into another prosperous era of Astros baseball.