"just trying to figure out how it is best to allocate my budget to get some young players to avoid having to completely rebuild once my current players age"
The trick is trying to spin those players off
before they age and lose their value. Veteran players aren't nearly as valuable in HBD as they are in MLB, although real-life GMs are starting to resemble us more and more.
I've tried essentially what you've described, but without a total commitment to punting the draft, and it never ends well. Unless you're able to sign one or two top-flight INT guys a year, you're going to end up with no minor league talent at some point. And if the FA pool stinks a couple years in a row, you'll suddenly end up with an aging roster that you can't even trade for spare parts, which even the Astros have been able to do. It's difficult to turn that around quickly unless you get a loaded FA class that allows you to fill multiple holes without offering regrettable contracts.