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Well said G.
If the M's are going to be good in 2012-2015, starting pitching will have to be the driving force based on who is now in the majors and the best talents we have in the minors.  I plan for success and presume that I have a surplus in starters.  The key to a starter surplus, is that I can be flexible about who I trade, versus who I keep.  I am disinclined to trade Felix, despite his salary, because he's the teams identity.  But if Boston blows me away with what they offer AND it clears $18M off next years payroll, I definitely consider it.
If someone wants to bet on Erik Bedard's ability to win games in the World Series, I trade him.  But if I get a better offer from someone for Doug Fister that places a premium on cost control and health, I make that trade.  Maybe the Dodgers give me Kemp and Ethier for Pineda and Halman to control costs.  I make that trade without a second thought.
The fact is that the M's have put the worst offensive team on the field for two years running and it has not be a product of bad luck or injuries.  They just flat out suck.  Look for the M's to have an average offense this year was going to require most of the following to work out: Olivo to not get killed by Safeco (+), Justin Smoak to demonstrate the scouts were right (+), Dustin Ackley to prove the scouts were right (+), Jack Cust to not be a BABIP artifact (-), Adam Kennedy to surprise (+), Gutierrez to bounce back (-), Ichiro to continue proving he was the model of consistent excellence (-), Michael Saunders to prove the scouts were right (-), Brendan Ryan to demonstrate his glove warranted to carrying a 75 OPS+ (+), Chone Figgins to bounce back (-), and Milton Bradley to bounce back (-).  I count five pluses and six minuses.  Maybe that is a little worse than we could have hoped for, but I would say that a lot of those bets were long shots.
My point in short form is that this offense was bad by design and will remain so without swapping some starters for some position players.  My point is not that doing so will work with perfect fidelity, merely that I think it is much more likely to work than sitting on our hands hoping that we get three out of Carp, Saunders, Peguero, Halman, Gutierrez, Seager, Kennedy, and Figgins to warrant 400 at-bats in 2012 and 2013.  I'd rather swap out one of our starters and hope that one of Hultzen, Bleavan, and Paxton warrant 150 IP by 2013.  You could reasonably argue that all three of them are better bets than all of the position players I just listed.