Mets place starting pitcher Carlos Carrasco on waivers: reports
Last Updated on August 30, 2023 by Admin
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The Mets have placed struggling right-hander Carlos Carrasco on waivers, according to Ken Rosenthal. The situation had become untenable with the veteran starting pitcher and it appears as though the club has finally admitted defeat.
It’s been a trying season for Carrasco, to say the least. The 36-year-old is 3-8 with a 6.80 ERA this season and landed on the injured list in April with elbow inflammation. The inflammation was an indicator of bone spurs and Carrasco had an injection to treat the injury, which successfully helped him avoid surgery.
However, even once healthy the results were dismal.
Carrasco has emphasized how great his arm has felt all summer, but he was never able to establish any sort of consistency. Every time it looked as though he was about to turn a corner, he would falter again. There were two good starts at the end of May after he returned from the injured list. There was one at the end of June and then an eight-inning shutout performance early in July in Phoenix. Carrasco blanked a tough lineup with the help of a new slider grip and the Mets thought it was the start of a positive trend.
Since then, the Venezuelan has gone 2-6 with a 10.24 ERA in eight starts. He failed to get out of the second inning his last time out against the Los Angeles Angels. The Mets have been considering skipping his next start, but manager Buck Showalter demurred when asked Tuesday afternoon before the second game of a series against the Texas Rangers.
Denyi Reyes will start Wednesday in the series finale. The Mets are pushing back right-hander Kodai Senga to Friday. This gives Senga extra rest and helps him potentially avoid reaching an innings limit the club has set for him in his first season stateside, but it also buys the Mets a few extra days to decide what to do with Carrasco and his spot in the rotation.
A transaction will have to be made since Reyes isn’t currently on the 26-man roster.
Putting Carrasco on waivers gives other teams a chance to claim him in reverse order of record. The team that wins the claim will have to take on the rest of his salary. The Mets could designate him for assignment to effectively cut him. This would allow the club to remove him from the 40-man roster and use the spot for someone in Triple-A, like right-hander Mike Vasil. But a source told the Daily News that it’s unlikely Vasil will make his big league debut this season. The 23-year-old is 3-2 with a 4.63 ERA in 12 games with Syracuse since his midseason promotion.
Rosters expand Friday and the Mets can add two players, but only one pitcher with the limit capped at 14.
Designating Carrasco would be admitting that it was a mistake to pick up his option for 2023. The Mets gauged trade interest over the winter but decided to retain him and stockpile starting pitching depth. That pitching pool proved to be quite shallow when left-hander Jose Quinta and Justin Verlander started the season on the injured list. The rest of the staff started to crumble around Senga — Carrasco included.
Teams rarely like to admit they were wrong, but Carrasco hasn’t been effective for the Mets this season. Seeing him go to another team and make a few good starts would cast the team in a bad light, but his contract is up at the end of the season anyway and the Mets are out of the race, so it matters very little.
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