You're never set at starting pitcher. Telling yourself you have enough is just setting yourself up to get hurt.
Because they get hurt -- like, all the time. No doubt, you've already experienced this. The only certainty at starting pitcher is that you'll lose some. Scarcely a week goes by when you don't.
The good news is that no position does a better job of replenishing itself. For as cruelly as it can rob a top investment of all his worth, it can so generously pull from obscurity some newcomer who makes for a surprisingly good facsimile, at least for a time. In that way, the volatility goes both ways at starting pitcher.
But the waiver wire feels like it's hit a dry spell, doesn't it? If you've just now had a need develop, you're more than likely straining to meet it.
Why not turn to the trade market, then? Here, I've identified six potentially high-end hurlers who you may be able to score at a discount.
Jesus Luzardo SP PHI Philadelphia • #44 • Age: 28 2026 Stats W-L 6-4 ERA 4.20 WHIP 1.31 INN 85.2 BB 27 K 97 The prevailing sentiment right now is that we were wrong to target Jesus Luzardo as a top-20 starting pitcher, and the conclusion is a reasonable one on account of his ERA and WHIP. But a look under the hood reveals a profile so flawless that it wouldn't be surprising if he's a top-five option from today forward. He's missing bats at an elite rate, as measured both by his 10.2 K/9 and 13.4 percent swinging-strike rate, has no control issues to speak of, is putting the ball on the ground better than 80 percent of the league, and is allowing weaker contact than 90 percent of it. The biggest knock on him is his .336 BABIP, which is more on the Phillies defense than him but should see some correction regardless. It's already started, in fact. Luzardo has a .307 BABIP in his past 10 starts to go along with a 2.93 ERA, 1.20 WHIP and 9.9 K/9. That's more what I expect from him going forward, except that his control is good enough for the WHIP to be even lower. 
Carlos Rodon SP NYY N.Y. Yankees • #55 • Age: 33 2026 Stats W-L 3-2 ERA 3.50 WHIP 1.25 INN 36 BB 20 K 41 Carlos Rodon was a forgotten man on Draft Day, still recovering from surgery to remove a bone spur in the offseason. His return to the Yankees rotation has been surprisingly lacking in fanfare for a guy who went 18-9 with a 3.09 ERA, 1.05 WHIP and 9.4 K/9 last year, making him the No. 6 pitcher in both points and categories leagues. Partly, that's because he had a bumpy reentry, issuing eight walks across eight innings in his first two turns back, and his control has continued to lag in his five subsequent starts. But as long as his stuff is intact coming back from surgery, then the rest is fine-tuning, and I see nothing to suggest it's diminished in any way. Rodon has recorded more than a strikeout per inning in four of his past five starts, with three of them being quality starts, and I think it's distinctly possible he's as good the rest of the way as he was last year. 
Trey Yesavage SP TOR Toronto • #39 • Age: 22 2026 Stats W-L 3-3 ERA 3.76 WHIP 1.16 INN 55 BB 25 K 53 As with Rodon, the wait for Trey Yesavage was so long that by the time he came back from his season-opening injury, we had already turned our attention to the next big thing, be that Jacob Misiorowski or Cam Schlittler. Yesavage was regarded as their peer in early drafts, before his elbow impingement came to light, and I'll remind you that he was a revelation at the end of 2025, both for his nine-strikeout debut on Sept. 15 and for his scintillating postseason performance that included an 11-strikeout effort and a 12-strikeout effort. As already discussed, though, enthusiasm lagged upon his return, and it didn't help that two of his first three starts lasted only four innings. Also not helping is that two of his most recent four have seen him issue six walks or more, but that sort of fits with my overall picture of Yesavage. When his splitter is working from that straight-over-the-top delivery, paired with a slider that's a wipeout offering in its own right, he can only beat himself. Both his minor league performance and his couple missteps in the majors last year revealed this. He walked none over 7 1/3 innings in his latest outing, which goes a long way toward confirming that his recent wildness isn't a permanent affliction, and between his 2.96 xERA and 13.7 percent swinging-strike rate (which would rank seventh among qualifiers), I'm confident that his best is yet to come. 
Emmet Sheehan SP LAD L.A. Dodgers • #80 • Age: 26 2026 Stats W-L 3-5 ERA 5.32 WHIP 1.30 INN 67.2 BB 20 K 76 Here's the complete list of qualifying pitchers with a better swinging-strike rate than Emmet Sheehan: Jacob Misiorowski, Jacob deGrom and Chase Burns. It's a stat I cite often not just because of the inherent advantage of missing bats but because I have yet to find a stat with a stronger correlation to how dominant a pitcher is. Go ahead and name your exceptions. They only prove the rule. It's true that Sheehan has a 5.32 ERA, and it's also true that manager Dave Roberts introduced some doubt as to his role Sunday after a disappointing outing in which Sheehan allowed six earned runs in 3 1/3 innings, saying "he'll get a start this next one, and we'll see where it takes us." But in a buy-low scenario, these worries are tools at your disposal. Sheehan has no glaring control issues, walking just 2.7 per nine innings, and gets hit about as hard as the average pitcher. He's been home run-prone this year but shouldn't have a predisposition to that, seeing as he allowed half as many home runs last year with mostly the same underlying data points. His strikeouts should rule the day, in other words, and while I suspect there are still some bumps ahead, the Dodgers aren't going to let this sort of talent go unfulfilled. 
Reid Detmers SP LAA L.A. Angels • #48 • Age: 26 2026 Stats W-L 3-5 ERA 3.93 WHIP 1.05 INN 94 BB 28 K 104 Whoever has Reid Detmers in your league likely picked him up just a couple weeks ago. Offering up such players is generally frowned upon because they were so recently free to acquire, so you'd almost be doing your opponent a favor by making an offer now, wouldn't you? That goes double with the left-hander having turned in a stinker last time out, allowing five earned runs and 10 baserunners across six innings. Whoever added Detmers in your league is probably second-guessing whether it was even the right call. Rest assured, it was, but the timing is perfect to capitalize on those doubts. Reminder that prior to that last start, Detmers was riding a five-start stretch with a 1.36 ERA, 0.55 WHIP and 10.6 K/9. His bat-missing chops are well established, with his 10.0 K/9 ranking 14th among qualifying pitchers, but his 1.05 WHIP ranks 15th, a testament not just to his strike-throwing but also a batted-ball profile that's optimal for preventing hits in play. It's the 3.93 ERA that's fit for exploitation here, and Detmers' 2.93 xERA and 2.88 FIP sum up why. That xERA ranks behind only Jacob Misiorowski, Paul Skenes, Cam Schlittler and Chase Burns. 
Landen Roupp SP SF San Francisco • #65 • Age: 27 2026 Stats W-L 5-7 ERA 4.15 WHIP 1.30 INN 80.1 BB 33 K 89 This recommendation is obviously intended for those who play on the deeper end of the pool, seeing as Landen Roupp is rostered in only 69 percent of CBS Sports leagues, but you have it even easier if you're in one of the other 31 percent. Just pick him up already. Maybe you had him at one point -- his roster rate peaked at 91 percent in late May -- but were never totally sold and ended up dropping him after his eight-run disaster on June 1. Well, I'm here to tell you he's legitimately good. He's right at 10 strikeouts per nine innings and is in the 80th to 90th percentile for both average exit velocity and ground-ball rate. You could ding him for his 3.7 BB/9, perhaps, but all of the ERA estimators, which take walks into account, say his 4.15 mark is among the most inflated. His 3.29 xERA ranks 12th among qualifiers, and his 3.01 FIP ranks 11th. He seemed to get back on track in his last start at Miami, allowing two earned runs in six innings with one walk and seven strikeouts. Everyone will be back on board after a couple more of those, so now is the time to strike. Add CBS Sports on Google Join the Conversation comments 
