"I think we've done a lot to take care of the long term, and right now I think it's time to start focusing on what we can do to help this team in the short term."

—General manager Jeff Luhnow after completing his fourth major trade this month.

Above is a quote found on Yahoo this morning and quite honestly; how do we take this? Crane has made it clear that he has no intention of spending money on this team until the young players are ready and the team is a lot closer to being able to contend. So what does that mean? Is this 2013 when the Singleton, Cosart, Villar group is expected to be ready? Is this 2015 when all hopes are on DeShields and possibly Correa?? When will it be time to spend money to help this team??

In 2012 we have seen some flashes of good things to come. Norris, Lyles and Harrell look like the beginnings of a solid rotation. Weiland, Cosart, Keuchel, Foltynewicz and now Musgrove gives the Astros plenty of young arms to chose from to fill out the rotation iin 2013. This is a very good thing for the near future. Now, with that said; who is going to hit?? Jose Altuve has come back to Earth but still appears to be a solid hitter. He will probably settle into the 2 hole quite nicely for the foreseeable future. Getting Lowrie back from the DL will help a lot. But who else do the Astros have? There is no other everyday player that has shown any consistency with the bat. There have been some flashes and JD Martinez should come around provided he not the most recent version of Jason Lane. Past that, where will the offense come from? This is where the front office needs to help this team in the upcoming off season. But the "$64,000 question is....will they?"