As it stands now, it looks like the Astros will have a top 15 draft pick, which means that they can sign free agents without any draft implications.
That's not entirely accurate. We would lose our 2nd rounder under that scenario.

this will turn out to be a good draft, signing-wise. And I expect the same to happen next year. So, I really don't see a trade off between spending on free agents and on the draft...it's not a mutually exclusive choice. I think Drayton will have to do both.
Well, we still have a 3rd and 3rd compensation pick floating out there unsigned. If we sign those guys and Castro (which I think is very likely) then I'll agree with that statement. I must add though that we need to do more in foreign countries, mainly in Latin America. When our farm was at its best we were signing picks AND had a great system for acquiring guys in the Dominican, Veneazuela, etc. (see Bobby Abreu, Hidalgo, Freddy Garcia). Unfortunately times have changed and the top talents have access and exposure to multiple clubs, which means the cost of playing the game go up. We have yet to make a splash in terms of signing one of the top tier guys that command big money and there's no doubt its cost us (teams like the Yankees, Red Sox, and Angels have kept solid farm systems with low draft picks by paying for these kinds of talents).