Trading for a starter ruins a rebuild? Trading any prospects would be a "disaster," and "lead to 5 more years of awful baseball?" I think you have that backwards. "We're going to do this the right way," (i.e. NOT trading anything from the minor leagues) is one significant cause of the awful baseball. If, indeed, they are 2-3 starters away, trading for one, now, seems like a good way to get going on finding them. The other option is to do nothing. That's not an acceptable strategy. Not for now, and not for later.