Houston had a complete culture change (new GM, new manager), White Sox had a complete culture change (new rebuild, new manager)
Houston played poorly for a number of seasons and accrued high draft picks, White Sox played poorly and accrued high draft picks
The difference is the White Sox were able to trade valuable assets for future talent.
If the trend is any indication, the White Sox are approaching the upswing in performance in a similar fashion to what the Cubs and Astros did.
So what I said was mostly accurate.