It seems pretty clear when Shapiro was hired that the intention was to cut bait on the current roster. Then the trade deadline s*** happened, and things turned around. In reality, look at the roster. The entire lineup, 1-9, was inherited from last season. The bench features a cast of characters that were all here last season. The rotation is the same as the beginning of last season except Stroman is healthy and Happ is replacing Buehrle. The two top relievers on the team were there last season (and pens change every year regardless). In reality, Shapiro didn't do much of anything to this roster. He just added depth to AA's team and brought everyone he could back. Whether that was by design or simply his way to biding time until he actually has to fix the roster (2017-beyond) is anyone's guess.
I don't think Shapiro is a fan of this core at all, to be honest. It's older, expensive, weak farm system, and goes against what he believes as far as team building. Get what you can in 2016 and then retool is probably the best way to describe this season.