I'm not comparing the Sox to the Mariners right now. I'm just going by what the Mariners GM has stated in public as his goal.
"If you go back, and you look in a decade, those teams that win 54% of the time always wind up in the postseason and they more often than not wind up in a World Series, so there's your bigger picture process," Dipoto said. "Nobody wants to hear 'the goal this year is we're going win 54% of the time.' … One year, you're going to 60% and another year you're going to win 50%; it's whatever it is. But over time that type of mindset gets you there. …
"If what you're doing is focusing year-to-year on ‘what do we have to do to win the World Series this year’ you might be one of the teams that's laying in the mud and can't get up for another decade, so we're actually doing the fan base a favor in asking for their patience to win the World Series, while we continue to build a sustainably good roster."
He believes in 54 percent and the nonsense about "sustainability" (aka being el cheapo). Because of this, I don't believe he's going to trade his starters. He'll probably wait until their final year of control and maybe even until the last trade deadline.