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As Doc so expertly notes, there are no absolutes here.  If you buy early, you "can" buy late, too.  It's just going to be more painful if you miss.
And the note about waiting for the 2nd crop of youth to sprout means the 1st crop is aging is another absolutely on-the-mark assessment.  BUT ... one shouldn't expect that EVERY home grown success is going to leave at the end of their 6-year apprenticeship.  In point of fact, if you're a top flight organization, then you should expect on paying "some" of your success stories handsomely and for a long time.  Having Chipper and Andruw and Maddux and Glavine and Smoltz didn't seem to seriously hurt the Braves for a decade plus.
The reality is that home grown talent often, (but not always), is willing to sign for under market prices to stay with a club.  Pujols should be the highest paid player in baseball today.  He isn't *BECAUSE* the Cardinals are a class organization who have treated him exceptionally well from day one, and handed him a truck load of money when the time arrived.  The club that DEVELOPS talent is the *ONLY* club likely to get that superstar to play for 80% of value.  But saving 20% of value (or more) on the best player in the game IS, in fact, a boat load of money.
A team that has already won championships might have some hope of getting a 'ring' discount in some situations ... but that tends to be isolated to late career guys who are already clearly on the way down.  But, Seattle doesn't have that plus.  Seattle is going to pay market OR ABOVE for any FA.  That's the reality of their current situation.  Trading for arb-elligibles can limit that exposure -- and targeting the hungry and unwanted also helps.  But, it gets easier to lure the expensive impact players if you ALREADY have a foundation that they can see.  The Ms aren't there -- at least not yet. 
But, if in 2010, Moore and Tui --- or Carp and Saunders -- (doesn't matter much who) -- jumps up and has some genuine success, while Gutz and Lopez continue developing.  Then, looking at 2011, the club is in a position to make a stronger push forward that is a lot less duct tape and paper clips, and looks more like an actual Major League organization building toward a SUSTAINABLE future.