The trades have been fine. They've traded a bunch of crap and got little in return. Looks like 2 guys might stick in Grichuk (an average regular who we have since locked up long term) and Thornton (a backend starter).
They've basically ignored FA, despite prices being ridiculously low, so they could play Teoscar, McKinney, Gurriel, Drury, etc., none of which are panning out. It's almost remarkable that they've rolled the dice with over half the lineup and haven't hit on a single guy this year. Their moves to patch the rotation have been just as disastrous. Jonathan Davis being the leadoff hitter, making emergency May trades for Edwin Jackson and starting a knuckleballer like Feireband....yeesh.
The end result is a s***** team with TONS of holes, a good but top heavy farm system that won't be able to patch all the holes, and a clean slate with the payroll. I'm not seeing a quick path back to .500 (or even being decent) here, especially with a bad rotation and bullpen that is only going to get worse once we trade Stroman and Giles.