It was clear to anybody in the offseason that our SP was inadequate. Even with Stroman (who is not yet a proven major league article) we were still relying on a 40 year old declining junkballer, an innings eater on the verge of retirement, Hutchinson and at least one of Norris/Sanchez/Estrada.
It did not take a genius to figure out we were woefully short in SP and there were mulitple options out there for signing such as Scherzer, Lester, Shields, Santana, McCarthy, Miller, Robertson, Hammel, Masterson etc. etc.