"we're essentially spiting our own efforts by dealing ANY and ALL youth in deals similar to the Beltran trade."

I don't see that we're dealing ANY and ALL youth, even in your examples. And those top 10 lists aren't team lists, they're lists prepared by the sames types who do college recruit rankings and the like. Which means they are nowhere near as informed as the organizational viewpoints. There isn't much to regret on that list.

But more to the point, there's a big difference between the Beltran trade and any other deal you named. That was a roll of the dice that should have worked, and under the circumstances I'd do it again. But it's a totally unusual deal in that they actually gave up a guy they didn't want to give up for a rental.

And imo the problem with the AJP trade wasn't what we gave up but what we got. We didn't need a catcher and the guy was a roaring asshole and everyone knew it.