The Braves announced some moves on the pitching staff today. They reinstated right-hander Tyler Kinley from the 15-day injured list and selected the contract of righty Ian Hamilton. In corresponding moves, they optioned righty JR Ritchie and designated righty Carlos Carrasco for assignment.
Ritchie has been up-and-down for Atlanta this year. His last two starts didn’t go particularly well, as he allowed nine earned runs in ten innings. One of those starts was yesterday, with Ritchie allowing the Padres to score four times in five frames. Carrasco tossed an inning and two thirds of relief, throwing 30 pitches in the process. The club has off-days tomorrow and on Monday, so they could go down to a four-man rotation for a while. Ritchie’s optional assignment leaves them with Chris Sale, Martín Pérez, Bryce Elder and Grant Holmes.
On Tuesday, the club starts a stretch of 13 games in a row going into the All-Star break. They will need some kind of solution next week, whether that’s a spot starter or a bullpen game. Reynaldo López just tossed three innings of long relief on Sunday, throwing 58 pitches in the process, so he’s available for some bulk work. Hurston Waldrep and Anthony Molina are on optional assignment, although Molina was himself just optioned. Owen Murphy is a non-roster option.
Carrasco is plenty familiar with the club’s roster cycle. He and Atlanta clearly have some kind of understanding. This is the sixth time the club has designated him for assignment in the past year. Each time, he clears waivers, elects free agency and re-signs with the club. At some point, he’ll be put back on the roster to give the club a fresh arm in the bullpen. When his arm is not so fresh, the cycle will continue again. As mentioned, he tossed 30 pitches yesterday and may not have been available today.
It’s a great setup for the team, as they effectively get a 41st man on their 40-man roster. Around the transactions, Carrasco has covered 14 2/3 innings this year with a 3.68 earned run average. For Carrasco, he would presumably prefer a more steady gig somewhere, but no other club is claiming him off waivers and giving him that. This way, at least he gets sporadic big league opportunities, and the pay that goes with those.
Several clubs around the league have been hit hard by recent injuries, such as the Diamondbacks and Cubs, so perhaps Carrasco will garner some interest this time. But based on recent precedent, he will most likely be a free agent in a few days, at which point he will sign a new deal with Atlanta.
The open roster spot allows Hamilton to get back to the majors. He signed a major league deal with Atlanta in the offseason, a pact that paid him a $1.05MM salary. Hamilton was outrighted off the roster in March and accepted his assignment. As a player with at least three years of big league service but less than five, he had the right to elect free agency but would have forfeited that money if he exercised that right. He was added back to the roster in April but was designated for assignment a week later. Again, he was outrighted and stuck with the club.
Around those transactions, he made one major league appearance, allowing three earned runs in one inning. His Triple-A work has been much better, as he has a 3.18 ERA in 22 2/3 innings. He has struck out 30.4% of batters faced while only walking 6.5% of opponents. He will lengthen out the bullpen for now. If he gets squeezed out of the club’s plans in the future, he is out of options.
Photo courtesy of Aaron Doster, Imagn Images
