Case Study: How Do I Rebuild This Team When The Time Comes?

The recent WC commentary on top's rebuilding effort got me thinking about how I'll rebuild the Diablos.

Here are the relevant (I think) details of the current state of my team:

***  This year's total (incl MiL) payroll is at $146MM;

***  I already have committed every last dollar of next year's $115.2MM cap;

***  I have absolutely no prospects in the minor leagues;

***  I have $0 in all scouting categories;

***  The things other than payroll I spend $$ on are coaching salaries ($7MM), prospect payroll ($6MM), training ($20MM) and medical ($8MM).

***  I should be able to keep the core of the team (Polonia, Suzuki, Kawasaki, Green, Merced, Stock, Duran) together for another 3 years or so.  The big loss will be Season 43 when Merced goes free agent.

***  This was probably the last year I could fill in around the core with retail-priced free agents (like Dawkins, Valbuena, Thomas, Zurburan), and I had to do some heavy back-loading on obviously declining players to manage that (not a recipe for LT success clearly)

***  Next year, and in future  years, I'll have to rely more and more on bargain-basement FA's to fill in around the core...and even moreso if I want to start building up my scouting again.

*** Clearly I can keep contending for awhile, probably not at the 105-112 win level, but 90 wins seems very doable for awhile.

***   I'd REALLY like to avoid the "drive it off the cliff and then spend 7 seasons in all-out rebuild at 60 wins" plan.  Been there, done that and it's boring.

How do I manage the transition so that I rebuild while at least staying in marginal contention?

Do I just start adding $$ back to my scouting categories next season and live with even more bargain-bin FA's?

Do I start trading off some of my aging-but-still-valuable players to try to get some prospects into the pipeline?

I guess the way I'm looking at it is this:  between Merced, Stock and Duran I have about 500 innings of ace-caliber pitching per season, the equivalent of 2 SP aces.  Even if I could squeeze into the playoffs with 85-90 wins, that trio has a chance to dominate 3 out of 5 games, or 4-4.5 out of 7 games.  We've all certainly seen more than a few WS won in that fashion.

Appreciate any thoughts about how I can manage a "soft landing" transition to a rebuild.  Comment here or on the WC - thanks.

Big News For Diablos Rojos Fans (in rl)

Mexico City Diablos Rojos fans are getting a new baseball stadium.  Designed in 2014, it was supposed to be completed by the end of 2017, but last Fall's earthquakes caused considerable damage and the team is now expecting to get into the new digs in 2019.

This article is the only one I could find that had any pictures of the rather unique roof design:

http://www.wbsc.org/new-60-million-luxury-baseball-stadium-to-be-unveiled-in-mexico-city/

I still can't figure out that roof...will have to take the metro out there to get an eyewitness look.