The Braves have once again designated righty Carlos Carrasco for assignment. This time, his roster spot goes to right-hander James Karinchak, whose contract has been selected from Triple-A Gwinnett. Atlanta also placed right-handed reliever Tyler Kinley on the 15-day injured list due to elbow inflammation and recalled righty JR Ritchie from Gwinnett in his place.
Readers should be plenty familiar with the cycle at this point. Carrasco, 39, can’t be optioned and thus must be designated for assignment any time the Braves want to send him down to the minors. At this stage of his career, the former Cleveland ace is amenable to functioning as an effective 41st man on Atlanta’s 40-man roster. The team regularly selects his contract to the majors, designates him for assignment, passes him through waivers and re-signs him on a new minor league deal once he elects free agency. He’s then summoned the next time Atlanta’s bullpen needs some length.
The cycle will very likely repeat itself again several more times this season. Atlanta has now designated Carrasco for assignment five times dating back to last August. He’s re-signed a new minor league deal after each prior DFA and also signed a minor league contract with the Braves as a free agent over the winter. The setup clearly works for both parties.
Carrasco has pitched well overall with the Braves this year, though he’s been tagged for runs in each of his past two appearances. He’s still held opponents to a total of three runs on 10 hits and a walk with four strikeouts in nine big league innings. His work in Gwinnett has been even sharper. In 30 frames with the Stripers, he has the exact same 3.00 ERA but a much stronger 21% strikeout rate against a tidy 5.6% walk rate.
The 30-year-old Karinchak, a former Cleveland teammate of Carrasco, will be returning to the majors for the first time since 2023. Karinchak looked like a potential bullpen monster for the Guardians at one point, pitching to a 2.51 ERA with a preposterous 46.6% strikeout rate through his first 32 1/3 MLB frames from 2019-20. Injuries and poor command have since derailed him. He still posted a 3.24 ERA in 133 1/3 innings from 2021-23, but Karinchak did so while walking more than 14% of his opponents and with a lesser (albeit still excellent) 33.9% strikeout rate.
Karinchak spent nearly the entire 2024 season on the minor league injured list due to a shoulder issue, pitching only 6 2/3 innings that year. A fastball that averaged 97 mph during his MLB debut was sitting at 92.1 mph during that injury-ruined season. Cleveland outrighted him off the 40-man roster that offseason, and he signed a minor league deal with the White Sox. He pitched 29 1/3 innings with a 2.45 ERA for the South Siders’ Triple-A club in Charlotte, but Karinchak also walked nearly 17% of his opponents there and sat 92.7 mph on his heater. He was released in June and didn’t latch on with another club until the Braves signed him this past December.
Thus far in 2026, Karinchak has pitched 25 2/3 innings with a 2.45 ERA that matches his mark from Charlotte last season. He’s toned his walks down, relatively speaking, issuing a free pass to exactly 10% of his opponents. He’s punched out a gaudy 38% of the batters he’s faced. His fastball velocity still isn’t nearly back to its peak levels, but this year’s 93.8 mph average is up noticeably from his 2024-25 levels.
Karinchak still has a minor league option remaining, and if he can carve out a role in the Atlanta bullpen, he’d be controllable through the 2027 season via arbitration. That’ll depend on whether he can continue to show improved command/velocity and whether he can stave off further injuries.
Karinchak has finally started to manage the walks a little better he could definitely still be a good bullpen arm like he was a few years ago.
I feel as though he’s been DFA’d->signed a new MiLB deal->called up->DFA’d by the Braves like 16 times this season.
(Sigh, heavy sigh) 🤣
Karinchak could salvage his Major’s Career if he fixes the Walking Buggaboo.
Should Nats take a flyer on him?
If he’s available. As of now, apart from Mitchell Parker and Miles Mikolas (and Jake Irvin), staff is much improved, but definitely still in need of upgrades.
And Seabold also just become available.
DFA Schultz & sign Carrasco.
Yes thank you. Schultz had no business pitching a 2nd inning. Butera got cocky with an 8 run league followed by an off-day. Schultz should’ve been removed after the back-to-back home runs by Chapman and Devers, but they kept him in and single-walk-double. By the time Eldridge walked I knew the Nats were losing that game.
Also using Varland for a 3rd straight game was a low IQ move. Remember Blake, you have Gus, not Louis.
See ya next week
lol.. reminds me of the Jesse Chavez merry go round.
Or Anthony Gose in Cleveland.
The MLBTR writing team should be keeping track of how many times each writer has to write the same article about the Braves and Carlos Carrasco. At the end of the season, whoever has had to cover this same story the most times should win some sort of prize. Even if it’s just a donut or a cookie. A cookie, get it?
In related news, Atlanta has just signed Jesse Chavez.
Although meant as a joke, with the current disaster in SFGs bullpen, he should run back..
Atlanta always announces their day’s roster moves bright and early — thanks for the frequent early content, Anthopoulos! — which typically means it falls to me during the week. I’d prefer the doughnut but won’t turn down a cookie, which is certainly more apropos, as you said, ha.
Are you ever tempted to have a template Carrasco article ready for just such a transaction? Seems like it would be helpful to have four of them (one for the dfa, one for the free agency announcement and one for the re-signing and one for the contract being purchased again) ready to go for both Carrasco and for Shaun Anderson and the Angels.
It should just be “first name blank” Anderson. It seems Angels have had around 4-5 Anderson’s in recent years (Tyler, Shaun, Tim, Ian).
I wonder if they can slip in a taxi squad provision for veterans during the next CBA negotiation. The traditional DFA process is such a clunky way to manage situations where a team needs a revolving arm on standby.
Weiss blew the game with Carrasco last night. Not sure what he was thinking.
Yes, was a puzzling decision. I didn’t get it coming after an off day.
I’m not 100% sure, my crystal ball unfortunately broke years ago, but if I had to guess it would be 1. the fact it’s a 162 game season. 2. The braves had the best record in baseball at the moment and a 9 game lead in the East. 3. The braves have leaned HEAVILY on the arms of Dylan Lee, Robert Suarez, and Raisel Iglesias, and the fact that Didier Fuentes has yet to experience a heavy workload (minors or majors). 4. Apparently Tyler Kinley is hurt, and wasn’t available to pitch last night.
Except, they had a day off on Monday. Using Carrasco lead to having Iglesias go 2 innings, because Carrasco gave up the lead.
Suarez only ended up throwing 7 pitches. He should have just came in for Dodd and gone longer. Then Iggy could have done the 8th and 9th. He ended up having to go two anyway. It was just bad management. Weiss has done far better than Snitker, but last night was bad.
It’s silly that one guy being hurt automatically means you have to pitch your worst pen arm in a one run game.
Also, the offense doing jack against jobber Fedde didn’t help either.
Couldn’t agree more. If we are that desperate for the last arm in the pen, Carrasco belongs in 8-2 games, not one run games. In short, he cost us the game. Agree that Weiss has managed well, but last night’s decision led to losing a game we should have won.
Yeah, I mean obviously I’m not happy with the outcome of the game, and I’m not saying WW did the right thing. just my hypothesis on why he did it. I agree though, Holmes definitely made it more difficult. Probably would make a decent fireman out of the bullpen though. He already has the mustache of genuine fire fighter haha.
Holmes not being able to complete 5 innings is a problem.
@inkstainedscribe This is the main problem here. Holmes rarely makes past the 5th inning, and that just isn’t going to cut it as a starter. With Kinley down now, I really suspect Holmes will slot into his spot in the bullpen, while JR Ritchie takes over the starter’s spot. Holmes can be a weapon out of the pen, he can slot into those high leverage situations, can go 2-3 innings if needed, and can be an opener if we ever need that. He just has so much more value being in the bullpen in my opinion. So much versatility and can be highly effective in any situation.
It’s a short term problem. He’s always been a long RP faking it as a starter. He has some gas and if he knows he’s only in for 1-2 IP most days, that could be advantageous. But also, no lineup should see him 3x. As good as the bullpen is, there’s a steep drop-off from front end of ‘pen to backend, especially if they’re getting creative with Didier. Lopez continues to look like a problem which heightens the need for Holmes as a long RP option. Maybe that opens the door for Perez to continue getting looks and ease Waldrep/AJSS into the rotation, when available.
No criticism for Weiss .. Obviously, several pitchers were still unavailable . Holmes short start screwed things up ..Weiss has to manage the season as well as games .. Carrasco didn’t give up the lead .. They had chances .. and fell an out short
Carrasco didn’t give up the lead. Unless I missed something, he did just that in the 7th inning.
Lots of good opinions. Holmes needs to go 5 innings minimum as a starter. Then, a 7 pitch inning allows you to bring the reliever back for the next one. Iglesias is sometimes iffy in a 2nd inning. Carrasco didn’t help last night. WW had limits and his choices didn’t work. This happens less than with Snitker though.
Designate, rinse, repeat
Dude doesn’t know where to get his mail sent any longer
This series could be retitled, Groundhog’s Day.
Someone should claim him, just for fun.
I was just about to post that a part of me would love it if the Mets claimed him, just to mess with the Braves. Except we had Carrasco before, he’s a great guy but he was toast 3 years ago, and we’d have to bounce a better pitcher to claim him.
Oh they don’t need to sign him, just claim him and tie up the process for a day or two the next time the Braves need a band-aid. The AL East could use a little sand in the gears, there’s too much professionalism and comity these days.
He’s like the Loch Ness Monster. Atlanta should’ve never given him tree fitty.
Wait they did WHAT?!
Here we go again
Cookie wishes he had Jesse’s house.
Where can I find a house so close,
Like Jesse’s house.
Get what you deserve! One call, that’s all! Right off perimeter in Fulton County. Right between Gwinnett and Cobb counties.
So close you could almost throw a ball from job to job. Free Airport shuttle in Cobb County plus Free Bus Rides in Gwinnett county. Daily or weekly rentals!
Winter rates available with 6 month lease!
Just like you’re limited to optioning any player 5 times a season, there should be a limit of 5 for how many times you DFA and resign a veteran.
Who wants to be in the pool for choosing the right hour or day they select him again?carasco might be Spanish for “ one who is trolled repeatedly”
“Hey, it’s Wednesday again, has Carrasco been DFA’d yet?… Oh, nevermind.”
Over/under on how many days until he signs a minor league deal with the Braves again?
Would you trade Chisox Luisangel Acuna for him?
So you can take that cookie, and stick it up your (waivers), stick it up your (waivers)…
Boss, I’m tired.
When Carrasco’s alarm goes off in the morning, the radio plays, “I Got You Babe.”
I dont understand why another team doesnt claim him, He has pitched well and would be an upgrade for a bullpen spot on many teams. Id love to see the A’s claim him
Clearly, you do not watch the games.
Clearly, you do not watch a lot of A’s games. Their pen is straight-up garbage
I’m not commenting on a team I willfully choose to ignore.
Understand this, pitching talent is so diluted in MLB you are still hearing the name Carlos Carrasco.
Does this really need to be reported EVERY week?
Yes, actually. It’s an official (repeating) transaction.