The past few days haven't been good for teams looking to acquire controllable starting pitching. On Friday, Angels southpaw came out of his start shaking his arm. The Halos put him on the 15-day injured list the next day with an elbow strain. One day later, the Marlins announced that was being shut down with a lumbar stre s reaction in his back. Miami almost immediately put him on the 60-day injured list -- ruling him out into August. Sandoval hasn't officially been ruled out beyond the early part of July, but it's hard to imagine he's looking at a minimal IL stint. Within 48 hours, two of the most talented controllable starting pitchers who could've plausibly been available J.t. Realmuto Jersey instead very likely came off the trade market. (Players can still be traded while on the injured list, but it'd be such a sell-low on either pitcher that Sandoval and Luzardo would almost certainly stay put.) Starting pitching injuries have been an unfortunate storyline throughout the season. Almost every team has been impacted, leaving all but a handful of contenders looking for rotation help over the next five weeks. Barring injuries of their own, the Mariners, Phillies and perhaps Yankees could feel great about the strength of their rotation. Everyone else has at least one or two points on which they could upgrade. Milwaukee, Houston, Baltimore, Atlanta, San Diego, Arizona and St. Louis could go into deadline season viewing the rotation as their top priority. There aren't enough healthy starters to go around. Teams like the D-Backs and Reds came up empty in rotation pursuits at the '23 trade deadline. That'll be the case for a handful of teams yet again, particularly with two more arms more or le s off the board. The White Sox are even more firmly positioned to dominate the market for controllable starting pitching, while the dwindling supply could provide an opportunity for a team like the Rockies or Rays to get good value for a mid-rotation type. There are a handful of impending free agents who could change hands -- , and among them. Flaherty looks to have pulled to the top of the rental starter group. The supply of starters under control beyond the 2024 campaign is dwindling, though. Let's take stock of that market: Unlock Subscriber-Exclusive Articles Like This One With a Trade Rumors Front Office Subscription BENEFITS Acce s weekly subscriber-only articles by Tim Dierkes, Steve Adams, and Anthony Franco. Join exclusive weekly live chats with Anthony. Remove ads and support our writers. Acce s GM-caliber tools like our MLB Contract Tracker Chuck Klein Jersey
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