If you’ve been following the Atlanta Braves this season, you know the rotation has been a revolving door of desperation. Injuries have gutted the staff — AJ Smith-Shawver, Reynaldo López, Spencer Schwellenbach, and Grant Holmes are all lost for the year. Spencer Strider and Chris Sale have both spent time on the shelf.
That brutal reality has forced Atlanta to reach deeper and deeper into the well, rolling the dice on arms that, frankly, had no business being in a pennant race.
The latest swing and miss? Carlos Carrasco.
The 37-year-old veteran, once a dependable innings-eater, became the poster child for Atlanta’s lowered standards in 2025. With a bloated 7.09 ERA across 45.2 innings, Carrasco wasn’t fooling anyone — literally.
Opponents treated his outings like live batting practice. Even in a season where the Braves’ bar for “serviceable” pitching has cratered, there was no way to justify running him out there again. The team designated him for assignment, and Carrasco elected free agency, hoping another club would take a flyer on him. But let’s be real, his market will be ice cold.
Braves Looking to the Future, Not the Band-Aids
The good news for Atlanta is that reinforcements are at least trickling in. Chris Sale’s return adds a proven top-end arm, and the emergence of rookie Hurston Waldrep has been one of the lone bright spots in an otherwise lost year. If Sale can stay upright and Strider steadies himself, suddenly the blueprint for 2026 doesn’t look so dire.
But make no mistake — 2025 is cooked. The Braves, a team that entered the season with World Series expectations, are instead looking up at the standings and trying to salvage pride. A roster this expensive should not be punting before September, yet here we are.
And this is exactly why Carrasco’s departure is symbolic. Atlanta can’t keep plugging holes with washed-up veterans and hoping for the best. The Band-Aid strategy has failed miserably. The front office needs to admit it, cut ties with every patchwork addition that didn’t pan out, and enter the offseason ready to get aggressive. Depth needs to be rebuilt, not recycled.
Carrasco’s exit isn’t just the end of a short, ugly stint. It’s a reminder that if the Braves want to avoid another wasted season, they need to overhaul their approach. No more stopgaps. No more half measures. If 2025 was the year of desperation, 2026 has to be the year of correction.
