Also if it was Ray or Walker or Kluber or Paxton or ... Insert another starter who got a short term deal... and not mutiple guys I was always OK with it being Ray at 8M
Roark was already signed on for the season unfortunately and was going to get a rotation spot unless injured. That's the much bigger travesty both because of suckage and the 12M guarantee that they were stuck with.
I don't think they were ever going to add multiple SPs via free agency. They probably explored and bailed on the trade market after SD went nuts.