6:15pm: The Braves announced today that Carrasco was acquired for cash. Manager Brian Snitker said tonight that Carrasco will start for the team Thursday (link via The Athletic’s David O’Brien). Atlanta will need to open a 40-man spot to create space within the next few days — which should be easy with the looming deadline.
12:48pm: The Braves and Yankees have agreed to a trade that’ll send righty Carlos Carrasco to Atlanta in exchange for a player to be named later or cash, reports Jack Curry of the YES Network. The veteran Carrasco is not on the Yankees’ 40-man roster after being designated for assignment and accepting an outright to Triple-A earlier this season.
Carrasco, 38, started six games and made a pair of relief appearances for the Yankees after signing a minor league deal over the winter. That contract came with a $1.5MM base salary, which will carry over to the Braves. He’s made 10 starts and a relief appearance with New York’s top affiliate in Scranton, pitching to a 3.27 ERA overall. That includes a particularly strong run since mid-June, during which Carrasco has logged 44 innings with a 2.45 ERA — albeit with a middling 16.6% strikeout rate. He’s limited walks at a strong 5.7% clip in that span and has a ground-ball rate north of 51.6% in Triple-A this year.
This is the second deal for a previously DFA’ed starter that the injury-ravaged Atlanta front office has drummed up in the past 24 hours. The Braves also added Erick Fedde last night and plugged him directly onto the 40-man roster. In doing so, they also announced that righty Grant Holmes was headed to the 60-day injured list due to an elbow injury.
Holmes became the latest injury casualty in a snakebit Braves season. Atlanta currently has Holmes, Chris Sale (fractured ribs), Reynaldo Lopez (shoulder surgery), Spencer Schwellenbach (fractured elbow) and AJ Smith-Shawver (Tommy John surgery) all on the 60-day injured list.
Presumably, Carrasco will be added to Atlanta’s 40-man roster if not immediately then in the near future. The Braves need all the help they can get simply navigating the rest of the season. Spencer Strider is still healthy atop the rotation, but the depth chart after him includes Bryce Elder, the just-acquired Fedde and recent waiver claim Joey Wentz.
The Braves gave young right-hander Didier Fuentes a look earlier in the summer before turning to external acquisitions, but he was rocked in four starts — as one might expect for a 20-year-old who was fast-tracked to the majors for injury purposes. Former first-rounder Hurston Waldrep has pitched well over his past six Triple-A starts and could get a look in the final couple months, though he’s walked nearly 13% of his Triple-A opponents this season. Righties Davis Daniel and Nathan Wiles give Atlanta a pair of depth arms in their late 20s — and both are already on the 40-man roster.
Waldrep and prospects JR Ritchie and Blake Burkhalter could all be options at some point down the stretch. Ritchie, in particular, has posted big minor league numbers. At the same time, with the season spiraling out of hand and the team’s playoff hopes dashed, the Braves may not want to rush potential key pieces of the future to the majors before they’re ready.
In that sense, some veteran stopgaps like Fedde, Wentz and Carrasco are fairly logical, even if they’re unexciting. Neither Ritchie nor Burkhalter is on the 40-man roster yet, though the latter will need to be added between now and November if he’s to be protected from this year’s Rule 5 Draft, which could give the team some extra incentive to take a look over the final eight weeks of the season if he can replicate his strong Double-A numbers following a recent promotion to Triple-A.