The Angels are in a "catch-22" because of the injuries that decimated the starting rotation for what will be close to two years. It's why Shoemaker isn't likely to be traded. The Angels need more pitchers, not less. So, due to the injuries they are left with trying to rebuild the starting staff practically from the ground up. How they might do this is problematic regardless of what kind of approach is used. It's already been established that there isn't anything on the farm to bring up and the free agent market is lacking. Counting on Skaggs, Richards, Heaney, and Trop would be foolish because there is no guarantee on who may or may not return. Plus there isn't any guarantee on how effective or durable any of them might be when they do return. Just look how slow Skaggs has been to rebound. Besides which he's had very limited success to begin with. The Angels are going to need a lot of luck rebounding from all these injuries. It's not like they've lost a couple of key players for a couple of months.