Help me go through this thinking exercise to better appreciate what AA actually does.

if no big 2012 trades or new injuries

• Romero
• Morrow
• Alvarez ? (if he gets it together again)
• Huchison ? (if fully recovered and no TJ surgery)
• Cecil ?? (continued effectiveness of last 2 games - unlikely but possible)
• 
  
• Given:
• Jay hitting, defense and bullpen will likely be of contending calibre, therefore starting pitching seems unacceptably weak.
• There is a nice group of starting pitchers (Syndergaard, Nicolino, Sanchez, Nolin, Stilson, Marcus Stroman? etc) that are maybe 2 years away. Then another wave behind. Given realities of injuries, It would be short-sighted to trade any of them.
• McGuire, Carreno and Jenkins, etc unlikely to be ready soon enough

Possible Solutions:

1. Pick up (without giving up top prospects) struggling (buy low) pitchers in 2012 … and hope some of them handle the audition this year.
2. Overpay for a free agent pitcher or two to start 2013. There is a time and a place to overpay and this is it. Try to get Marcum back. Shop from www.mlbtraderumors.com/2011/04/2013-mlb-free-agents.html though final list will be much shorter.
3. Trade premium non-pitching prospects… for a couple of “very good” pitchers.
4. Trade decent roster players (Encarnacion, Johnson, Escobar, Snider, Arencibia) for pitchers and put pressure on position prospects (d’Arnaud, Hech, Gose/) that are almost ready for a shot.