However, since as you quoted above " the free agent pitching crop is thin this year", and one thing Jerry did not seem to miss on last year was finding scrap heap pitchers to put into the rotation (LeBlanc, Martin, Weiland, and etc..), coupled with Dipoto's confidence in the kids in the high farm (Moore, Blackburn and Yarbrough), and Jerry loves to trade... and Jerry has yet to make his signature move....
That all leads me to believe a big trade is coming, and it will involve one or two of the young MLB level pitchers.
How about Walker, Yarbrough, Seth, Vincent and Caminero for Jordan Zimmerman, JD Martinez, Mark Lowe and a prospect? If this is done with little or no cash coming back from Detroit, the M's may be able to give up less. That makes the rotation even stronger, and gets you a full time right handed OF... and per Mather, he expects to be spending more than $150M this year.