The Braves announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Carlos Carrasco. The righty takes the 40-man spot that was opened when he himself was designated for assignment a few days ago. He cleared waivers, elected free agency, re-signed and is now back with the big league club again. In terms of the active roster, fellow right-hander Anthony Molina was optioned to Triple-A Gwinnett yesterday.
Carrasco and the club have done these dance steps many times. He was acquired from the Yankees in a cash deal in July of 2025. Since then, they have repeatedly gone through this cycle where he is added to the roster, helps absorb some innings and gets designated for assignment. After clearing waivers, he either accepts an outright assignment or elects free agency and then signs a new deal.
The appeal for Atlanta is clear, as they effectively get a 41st man on their 40-man roster. Whenever they want a fresh arm, they can call on Carrasco, who has generally done well when called upon this year. He has a 2.45 earned run average in four appearances. For Carrasco, he gets some sporadic big league pay and service time. Perhaps he would prefer a more steady gig but the fact that he keeps clearing waivers suggests no other club is willing to give him that.
Carrasco went four innings on May 27th and wasn’t going to be available for a few days. Atlanta swapped him out for Molina but then didn’t need Molina in the interim. With yesterday’s off-day, the staff isn’t taxed but they decided to bring Carrasco back as a long relief option.
Atlanta kicks off a six-game road trip tonight with three games in Toronto followed by three in Pittsburgh. They are scheduled to go with Bryce Elder, Grant Holmes and Chris Sale against the Blue Jays. That should set them up to start with Martín Pérez and Spencer Strider against the Pirates, with Elder’s spot coming up again for the final game against the Bucs. If any of those games turns lopsided, Carrasco could be called upon to spare the rest of the relief corps.
Photo courtesy of Geoff Burke, Imagn Images
This is so not against the rules yet also so ridiculous at the same time
Explain why.
Why? Teams shuffle pitching around all the time. Without being able to do this he won’t have any more games in the majors. All the other teams have a chance to claim etc and don’t. This allows a veteran to continue to play; mostly for the love of game.
If there were rules against this it would only hurt the player as Atlanta would still DFA and since no one claims him he would be out of a job
Braves to the naughty list!
Carlos, pack your bags you’re gone, I mean no you aren’t…rinse repeat.
They are going to have to change his nickname from “Cookie” to “Yo-Yo”.
You kin to that hay barber??
Holy smokes dude how do you have time to comment this much
Says the guy who has the “comments so much and so often” badge.
Go judge elsewhere, palooka.
I’m not sure why teams are letting the Braves do this. Admittedly, it was more confusing with Martin Perez who’s actually a decent pitchability guy. Carrasco’s pretty cooked, but it’s still awfully friendly of the Phillies and Nats to not mess around with his availability via claims.
Teams aren’t going to pick up a veteran like him without his permission. It’s possible a team asked and he just has a preference to stay with the Braves
Permission from who? When he gets DFA’d he’s free game for the entire league to claim
Why is it an issue for you when 29 other teams *choose* not to claim him for the league min salary and a 40-man roster spot?
DON’T GIVE THE DODGERS ANY MORE IDEAS………………….
It’s a shame they aren’t giving Fuentes the opportunity to pitch as a starter
And again, I’ll say the same thing I said the last time this happened: the fact that there isn’t a single team out there who will pick him up (he’s still a solid arm) if for no other reason than to see if you can get an asset from Atlanta for him is crazy to me
So Carlos Carrasco is this year’s Jesse Chavez…love it! Who will it be in 2027?!
So he’s the new Jesse Chavez
No need to post this non-story anymore. Happens like once a week?