In 2025, 369 pitchers started a game in MLB, for an average of 12.3 per team. Only 53 started at least 30 games, an average of fewer than two seasonlong starters per team. More injuries, more shuffling of players on and off the roster, more six-man rotations and rest days: It all means rotation depth is more important than ever -- and harder to find.

As one agent recently told ESPN's Buster Olney : "What I'm hearing when I talk to teams is pitching, pitching, pitching. Everybody is looking for pitching."

We've already seen three trades for starting pitchers this offseason, with the Boston Red Sox acquiring Sonny Gray from the St. Louis Cardinals and Johan Oviedo from the Pittsburgh Pirates , and the Baltimore Orioles trading Grayson Rodriguez to the Los Angeles Angels f

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