Mets throw in towel by waiving struggling Carlos Carrasco

Carlos Carrasco’s tenure with the Mets was coming to a close, regardless, but this is just accelerating the process.

The Mets placed the 36-year-old starting pitcher on waivers Tuesday, finally declaring their surrender on the defense of keeping him in the rotation for as long as they have. Granted, they didn’t have many other options given the lack of organizational depth following the trades of Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander.

But Carrasco, who was 3-8 with a 6.80 ERA and 1.700 WHIP, owned the worst ERA among qualified pitchers in Major League Baseball this season — a year that included an IL stint due to elbow inflammation that suggested a bone spur in the area. He avoided surgery by receiving injections to the area and maintained on multiple occasions that his elbow felt fine.

This was after the Mets decided to pick up his 2023 option after floating his name out on the trade market during the winter. There is a club option on his contract next season that the Mets obviously are not going to take.

“I’m just trying to figure out what to do,” Carrasco said on Saturday night after giving up five runs on seven hits in just 1.2 innings against the Los Angeles Angels. “Something new, something old, trying to bring everything that I can so I can move forward but sometimes, it’s not there.”

Each of the other 29 teams in MLB now have an opportunity to claim Carrasco in reverse order of record, though they would have to pick up the remainder of the $12 million he was due this season. If a team does not claim him, the Mets could designate Carrasco for assignment.

That would open a roster spot to potentially call up another pitcher from Triple-A — whether that be the likes of Mike Vasil or Justin Jarvis. But for the time being, they gave the ball to Denyi Reyes for Wednesday’s series finale against the Texas Rangers. Joey Lucchesi could also get an opportunity to see more consistent starts.

MLB rosters can expand by two players on Friday, but only one can be a pitcher.

Pantorno is the executive sports editor of amNewYork — a position he has held since January 2020. He covers the New York Mets and New York Islanders while overseeing day-to-day operations of the department.His previous stops include Bleacher Report and Metro New York while his work has been featured in the New York Post, Newsday, and Yahoo! Sports.