(Photo: Mitchell Leff/Getty)

Windle has a ceiling as a No. 2 or 3 starter, if he can improve his changeup and command, and if not, he has enough pure stuff to be a closer.

Windle's best pitch is his nasty slider, which reaches the mid 80s. He can drop it in on the hands of left-handers or on the back foot of right-handers. After working at 90 mph to 94 mph with his fastball during his junior season with the Gophers, Windle pitched more at 88 mph to 92 mph in his pro debut. Lengthening his stride during instructional league helped him reclaim that lost velocity.

Windle's delivery looks a little stiff, and it features some recoil, leading some scouts to question whether he can develop the third pitch and control to remain in the rotation. Windle is starting to throw his changeup more often, and it has made some progress.

Eflin throws his fastball in the low 90s, and he can occasionally add a bit more velocity. He has advanced feel for his changeup, which might be his best pitch. At its best, Eflin's breaking ball is a solid third offering, though it has a tendency to get slurvy.

Eflin's whole arsenal plays up, thanks to his control and the good downhill angle he creates. He is built like a prototypical right-hander, and he has the look of a future middle-of-the-rotation workhorse.

(Photo: Rich Schultz/Getty)

“We’re a lot more realistic about it than we were in July, because now you see a pretty great shift,” Amaro said. “Teams just don’t want to give up the talent. They’d rather give up the money than the talent. So we have to have an understanding of that, and at the same time we have to identify the guys that are still pretty talented and not take a bath.

“Listen, our ownership group is not saying, ‘You have to trade these guys.’ But we as an organization, together, have decided we need to make a change."

“You identify, and fans identify, with players like Rollins, Utley and Howard, who are arguably the best players at their positions in the history of our franchise,” Amaro said. “It’s hard to cut them loose. And yet, sometimes, you have to have that mentality like, you know what, maybe we were a little too loyal, maybe we were thinking that we could squeeze some more blood out of the stone.

“But that’s also a good learning experience for me. Maybe we’ve got to do things a little differently, and think about doing that shift a little earlier.”