This past week the St. Louis Cardinals signed free agent right-hander Mike Leake to a five-year – $80 million contract. And while the 28-year-old San Diego native was considered one of the better available starting pitchers, he is, at best, a number three start – something that the Dodgers do not need.

With Zack Greinke, David Price, Jordan Zimmerman and Johnny Cueto no longer available, there are now exactly zero top-of-the-rotation starting pitchers remaining on the free agent market – not one. Granted, there are some who might argue that left-hander Scott Kazmir has potential staff-ace stuff, but most see him as, at best, a number three or perhaps even a number four starter.

Kazmir has definitely had his moments during his 11-year MLB career – including three All-Star Game appearances (2006, 2008 and 2014) – but he owns a career record of 98-90 with a number three-ish 3.96 career ERA. In other words, he is not the silver bullet that the Dodgers are looking for to bolster their starting rotation, especially for the (probable) five year – $60 to 80 million contract he is seeking. Here again, the Dodgers have plenty of three, four and five starters and signing the soon-to-be 32-year-old Houston, Texas native to that type of contract would be a major risk. Keep in mind that before being traded to the Astros last season, there were reports that Kazmir was dealing with an elbow issue.

That being said, there were rumors being floated around that Kazmir’s alleged elbow issue was manufactured by Kazmir himself in an attempt to remain in Oakland. But as the 2015 season progress and with the Astros leading the AL West and the A’s in the cellar for nearly the entire season, Kazmir was more than happy when he was traded to his hometown Houston Astros at the July 31 trade deadline – and who wouldn’t be, going from a loser to an instant contender.

Although Scott Kazmir has had a good 11-year MLB career, he is not a viable number two starter for the Dodgers. (Photo credit – Colin E. Braley)

With no true top-of-the-rotation starters left on the free agent market – and this includes Kazmir – Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and general manager Farhan Zaidi have pretty much accepted the fact that the only way they are going to land a number two starter behind staff ace Clayton Kershaw is through a trade which, of course, would cost them a boatload of their top prospects. The alternative, and one that they have express a reluctance to even consider, is to allow their top starting pitching prospects – of which they have several – a shot at possibly becoming their team’s number two – guys like Jose De Leon, Julio Urias and Ross Stripling. Yes, there is no denying that it would be an extreme long shot for any of these guys to suddenly become the Dodgers’ number two, but the reality is, they don’t really have many other options, so why not at least give these guys a try?

Although the 19-year-old Urias is ranked as Baseball America’s number two Dodgers prospect (behind shortstop Corey Seager), De Leon – their number three ranked prospect – is both older and more experienced than Urias. De Leon is 16-12 with a 3.61 ERA through three minor league seasons with 244.1 innings pitched, whereas Urias is 7-7 with a 2.91 ERA through his three minor league seasons but with 222.1 innings pitched. That being said, Urias probably would have a better overall record (and more innings pitched) had he not been on a very strict pitch count and innings limit during his short professional career.

As for Stripling, had he not fallen to an elbow injury during spring training 2014 that required Tommy John surgery, he probably would already be in the Dodgers starting rotation – quite possibly the de facto number two with Greinke now gone and Hyun-jin Ryu and Brandon McCarthy still on the shelf. And now that the 26-year-old Bluebell, Pennsylvania native has fully recovered from his surgery, he certainly figures to be a legitimate candidate for a spot in the Dodgers starting rotation this spring.

Right-hander Ross Stripling is now fully recovered from Tommy John surgery and could very well be in the Dodgers starting rotation on Opening Day. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

With the free agent starting pitching market now (nearly) depleted, Friedman and Zaidi must now look for alternatives – but if anybody can do it, these two guys can. Let’s just hope that they don’t trade away the farm to get there.