Guardians Outright Carlos Carrasco

Carlos Carrasco is sticking with the Guardians. Cleveland announced this evening that the veteran right-hander accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Columbus. The Guards had designated Carrasco for assignment on Tuesday when they needed a 40-man roster spot to add Myles Straw as a replacement for injured left fielder Steven Kwan.

Carrasco was on the injured list at the time of his DFA. He last pitched in the majors on August 7. A left hip strain sent him to the 15-day IL. Injured players cannot go on outright waivers, but Carrasco was on a minor league rehab stint at the time of his designation. That the Guards were permitted to outright him suggests he’s back to full strength. Cleveland announced that he’ll start tomorrow for Columbus.

This has been a tough year for the 37-year-old. Carrasco broke camp with the Guardians after returning to the organization on an offseason minor league deal. He’s taken the ball 21 times and is third on the team (behind Tanner Bibee and Ben Lively) with 103 2/3 innings. The results haven’t been great, as he’s allowed 5.64 earned runs per nine. Carrasco’s strikeout rate is a bit south of 20% and he has been far too prone to the home run ball (1.65 HR/9). The longball has been an issue for the past few seasons, the main reason Carrasco has allowed an ERA north of 5.00 in four of the last six years.

Carrasco has more than enough service time to decline a minor league assignment while collecting what remains of his $2MM base salary. He and the Guardians clearly have a strong relationship, so he’ll instead head to Columbus and hang around as depth for Cleveland’s playoff run. Carrasco wouldn’t have been eligible for postseason play elsewhere, meaning he’d have simply sat out the rest of the year had he elected free agency.

While Carrasco has clearly fallen down the organizational depth chart, the Guardians have one of the weaker rotations among playoff teams. Bibee, Gavin Williams and midseason pickup Matthew Boyd (2.52 ERA with a 27.2% strikeout rate in seven starts) project as Stephen Vogt’s top three starters. Deadline acquisition Alex Cobb landed on the IL last week with blister issues. He’d be in that mix if he’s healthy by the start of the playoffs. According to the MLB.com injury tracker, he was scratched from a scheduled simulated game yesterday as the blister lingers.

Lively would probably be the option right now if Vogt needs a fourth starter, but there’s very little depth after that. Carrasco and rookie Joey Cantillo project as the top depth options if any of the Guards’ top four starters were to suffer an injury. Vogt will look to get into his elite bullpen early and often once October rolls around.