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Earlier this week, a series of teams placed some players on waivers.
This was done mainly by squads with no realistic playoff aspirations that wanted to shed some salary.
If the players were claimed by another team, that organization became responsible for the remainder of the player’s salary.
This happened with Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez, Harrison Bader, Matt Moore, and others: they were waived and contending teams took a chance on them, with the caveat that they now have to pay them what they are owed.
Others were waived, but because of one reason or another, went unclaimed.
This was the New York Mets‘ case with Carlos Carrasco.
“Carlos Carrasco goes unclaimed,” MLB insider Jon Heyman reported.
Carlos Carrasco goes unclaimed
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) August 31, 2023
The same happened with the Chicago White Sox and Mike Clevinger: they placed him on waivers but no one took him.
With Carrasco, teams’ decision to pass on him stem from two specific situations: his salary and his current performance.
Carrasco is making $14 million from the Mets this season.
A hypothetical claiming team would have been responsible for the prorated amount of that salary, not the entire $14 million.
But that’s still a sizable payroll increase at this point of the season.
Perhaps if Carrasco was pitching better, teams would have dared to take a chance on him.
That isn’t the case, though: he has a disappointing 6.80 ERA in 90 innings this season.
He allowed seven hits and five runs in just 1.2 innings in his most recent start.
He also hasn’t logged a quality start since July 6.
All things considered, bringing him in would have represented a high-risk, low-reward move for contenders.
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