Veteran right-hander Carlos Carrasco can trigger an opt-out in his minor league deal with the Yankees on Saturday if he hasn’t been added to the 40-man roster by that point, reports Jack Curry of the YES Network. Triggering the out would give the Yanks 48 hours to add him to the roster or else allow him to become a free agent. Curry adds that Carrasco is “likely” to begin the year in the team’s rotation, so it seems they’re leaning toward adding him to the roster. They’d need to open a 40-man roster spot but could do so easily by transferring Gerrit Cole to the 60-day injured list.
Carrasco, 38 on Friday, signed a minor league deal with the Yankees back in early February. He’s posted solid results despite shaky command this spring, holding opponents to three runs in 11 innings and punching out 12 of the 46 men he’s faced (26.1%). Carrasco has also issued six walks and plunked three batters, however, so he perhaps hasn’t been quite as sharp as his 2.45 ERA might appear to indicate.
The veteran Carrasco was for a good while one of the more consistent arms in the sport. From 2014-18, he was a rock in the Cleveland rotation, rattling off 856 innings of 3.27 ERA ball with brilliant strikeout and walk rates alike. He’s had his share of success even since that five-year peak, but the year-over-year results have varied drastically. He pitched to a solid 3.97 ERA in 152 innings with the Mets as recently as 2022, but Carrasco has also logged an earned run average of 5.64 or higher in three of his past four seasons.
Entering camp, Carrasco looked to have little path to a rotation spot. He was the quintessential veteran depth piece, but injuries have ravaged the Yankees’ starting staff and now placed him in position to break camp in the fifth spot. Cole will miss the 2025 season due to Tommy John surgery. Rookie of the Year Luis Gil will miss most or all of the first half due to a lat strain. Clarke Schmidt is having his next spring start skipped because of shoulder soreness and is not a lock to be on the Opening Day roster. JT Brubaker suffered a trio of broken ribs early in camp when he was struck by a comeback line drive.
With nearly a full rotation’s worth of arms ailing, the Yankees are now lined up for Carlos Rodon, Max Fried and Marcus Stroman to take the top three spots in the rotation. If Schmidt is able to avoid an IL stint, he’d be in line for a fourth. The fifth starter race would come down to Carrasco and prospect Will Warren. While Warren has been terrific in camp this far (15 2/3 innings, 2.87 ERA, 16-to-3 K/BB ratio), handing him the fifth spot would likely mean allowing Carrasco to opt out and sign elsewhere, thus further compromising the team’s depth. Of course, if Schmidt winds up landing on the 15-day IL, then it’ll likely be a moot point, as both Carrasco and Warren would be ticketed for the starting rotation.