You'd be hard-pressed to find a team having a worse spring training than the New York Yankees. Sure, the team is 8-7 in Grapefruit League play, but they've dealt with more injuries than any other team.
Giancarlo Stanton is dealing with injuries to both of his elbows and will miss the beginning of the season. DJ LeMahieu strained his calf and is unlikely to play on Opening Day. Luis Gil strained his lat, sidelining him for several months. Worst of all, Gerrit Cole, the team's ace and highest-paid pitcher, suffered a season-ending elbow injury and will undergo Tommy John Surgery.
When the Yankees signed Max Fried, they had one of, if not the best rotation in the sport on paper. Pairing Cole with Fried at the top while having Gil, Carlos Rodon, and Clarke Schmidt rounding things out and Marcus Stroman as depth felt like a World Series-caliber unit. Unfortunately, the rotation has a new look now, and not in a good way, with Fried as the new ace of the staff and a bunch of question marks behind him.
Now, in addition to the Yankees losing one of the best pitchers in the game for the entire season, they've lost virtually all of their starting pitching depth. Gil and Cole on the sidelines will cause the Yankees to use both Stroman and Will Warren in their Opening Day rotation. While that isn't horrible their next man up is probably Carlos Carrasco. That is a problem, as any New York Mets fan can attest to.
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Yankees must make a move to avoid learning an irritating Carlos Carrasco lesson
Once upon a time, Carrasco was a rock-solid mid-rotation arm. He was good enough for the Mets to acquire him alongside Francisco Lindor in the team's blockbuster swap with Cleveland ahead of the 2021 campaign. Unfortunately, while Lindor has more than lived up to his end of the bargain, Carrasco fell short in his.
The right-hander missed much of his first season with the Mets due to injury and struggled mightily when on the mound. He bounced back in 2022 and was a fixture in the back end of the team's rotation, but he took a monumental step back in 2023. Carrasco posted a 6.80 ERA in 20 starts and 90 innings of work. He only got to make 20 starts because the struggling Mets revamped their roster midseason and they needed someone to take the ball. He allowed five runs or more eight times, and went beyond five innings just four times all year - that's how bad it was.
He was a bit better this past season in his return to Cleveland, but as his 5.64 ERA in 21 starts and 103.2 innings of work would indicate, he certainly wasn't great. He wound up getting DFA'd down the stretch.
The 37-year-old has a 5.32 ERA in 82 starts since 2021. Among the 115 pitchers to throw at least 350 innings in that span, Carrasco ranks 113th in ERA and 104th in fWAR (2.5). Is that really the guy that the Yankees want to be the next man up? He's pitched pretty well in his three spring training appearances, but 7.2 innings of exhibition games shouldn't be enough to fool anybody.
The Yankees do not have to make the blockbuster trade fans are clamoring for right now. However, they should sign a veteran, whether it be Kyle Gibson, Spencer Turnbull, or even Lance Lynn, to avoid having to turn to Carrasco at the first sign of trouble. For those Yankees fans in doubt, just ask any Mets fan. They'll tell you that the team would be wise to avoid the mistake of trusting Carrasco to do much at this stage of his career.