Trading from the farm has been viewed as one way to shortcut one’s self into contention. Spending extravagant amounts of money in free agency is another. But since this is the Astros we are talking about, then trading from a deep farm system was the only way this team could improve drastically in short order.
However, just because you can trade prospects for proven major league players doesn’t necessarily mean you should. But there are times a trade, or shall I say the “right” trade, is needed to truly make your team a contender.