You had to get rid of Bourn and Pence last year. Their values were at their highest and we had to get something for them. Their contracts were soon expiring so we would lose them to free agency anyway. Hopefully, Wandy gets off to a good start so we can trade him too. With a lower payroll giving us more profit sharing money, plus the discount he received on the purchase price for moving to the American League (having to buy a DH) we should be in a position to start the climb up. If the minor league players develop accordingly then you just have to fill the holes with the free agents. That is where the money will come back in.

The good news is that Luhnow is a very progessive thinker. He has an engineering degree and is sold on Sabremetrics. The fact that he isn't turning a blind eye to the obvious mathematical evaluation of the game puts him high up in my book. So many old school baseball guys still think a good scout is all you need.

Also, when you are a seller, all you can get for starters is minor league players. It is very hard to get starters for starters when trading.