John Donovan has a new article up, looking at the paucity of quality pitching options available on the trade market this summer.
He hammers home something that has been apparent for a while...if you are wanting decent pitching via a trade this summer, you are probably going to be out of luck.
Which is why I think talk of the Rangers making a deadline deal to shore up the rotation or pen is pointless...at the end of the day, there just likely won't be the type of pitchers available out there that would be worth pursuing. Particularly when the Rangers have Wes Littleton and Edinson Volquez looking good in the minors, and Frankie Francisco, Josh Rupe and Adam Eaton all making their way back from injury...the available pitchers on the trade market come July aren't likely to be much, if any, better than those guys.
Donovan lists 10 pitchers who are being talked about, but the guys he identifies generally are either prohibitively expensive (Dontrelle Willis, Barry Zito, Livan Hernandez), not really available (John Smoltz, Greg Maddux), or not any good (Sidney Ponson, Odalis Perez).