
Jack Curry of YES Network reported earlier today that the Yankees signed RHP Carlos Carrasco to a Minor League deal, also extending him an invite to Spring Training. The Yankees already have their five-man rotation and would most definitely use Marcus Stroman over Carrasco if one of their projected starters went down with an injury. The last two seasons have also been subpar for the former All-Star, posting an ERA north of 6.00 in 2023 and north of 5.00 in 2024, as his fastball continues to lose zip and his signature changeup continues to regress.
A declining starter in the waning years of his career, the Yankees aren’t hoping for a full season of production, but a depth arm who can slot some less prepared names down the depth chart and dispense some valuable wisdom.
Carlos Carrasco Is More Than Just a Pitcher For the Yankees

One of the biggest reasons the Yankees needed someone like Carlos Carrasco is the state of their upper-level Minor League pitching staffs, with a lot of their top names consisting of pitchers returning from injury.
Chase Hampton and Brock Selvidge were expected to be ready for the chance to start in Scranton and wait in the wings in case someone got hurt in Spring Training, but injuries slowed their development. The Yankees could technically go with Yoendrys Gomez or Clayton Beeter in the rotation if someone went down, but both project better for reliever roles due to their command.
Ben Shields and Cam Schlittler have made just one start in Triple-A each, and they were spot starts, those promotions were intentionally temporary. The Yankees’ sixth starter is Marcus Stroman, who could get traded if the Yankees find a match, and their seventh starter is Will Warren, who struggled mightily in his first taste of big-league action.
After that there isn’t much to rely on; and if they end up moving on from Stroman, there will be even less to lean on in a situation where the team needs a spot start.
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There isn’t much that would lead me to believe Carlos Carrasco would be productive in 2025, but there are some interesting tweaks I think the Yankees could explore. Last season the Guardians didn’t seem to be very happy with his sweeping slider, but it had excellent results and more importantly, it had some excellent Stuff+ scores.
While FanGraphs doesn’t separate sliders and sweepers, his highest usage of the sweeper was in April, where his “slider” registered a 120 Stuff+. After that point in the season, the sweeper usage petered out and he had a 99 Stuff+ on that pitch.
If you use TJStuff+, developed by Thomas Nestico (@TJStats on Twitter), Carrasco’s slider had a 98 Stuff+ and his Sweeper a 102. The Guardians have the third-lowest sweeper usage since 2022 while the Yankees are fourth in sweeper usage, so I wonder if that’s a pitch they have him lean into more.
Batters had a 35.7% Whiff% and .244 wOBA against his sweeper, but by throwing it just 55 times, I can only say so much about how effective this pitch would be if used ~15-20% of the time. What I do know is that Carlos Carrasco’s fastballs are so rough that the Yankees need to find any way they can to reduce the usage of those pitches, and a sweeper can be another weapon to utilize instead of a fastball.\

With regressing velocity, it’s hard to imagine these trends will get any better, and it’s why projection systems are (rightfully) of the belief that Carrasco will struggle in 2025. If the Yankees get the outcome they got from Cody Poteet last year, Matt Blake should have a statue built in his name outside of the ballpark, and the over/under on MLB appearances here should be set at 0.5.
That being said, the value he can provide extends beyond just being Scranton fodder who can preserve the service time clocks of prospects not yet ready for the Majors. A veteran who has been in the league since 2009 while overcoming numerous obstacles including a battle with cancer, Carlos Carrasco is the kind of guy that young pitchers would be lucky to learn from.
For pitchers like Will Warren or Clayton Beeter who are still cutting their teeth against the best pitchers on the planet, shadowing the pre-game preparation of a craft veteran could be valuable. Even for more established arms like Luis Gil and Clarke Schmidt, you never know what role an experienced big-leaguer can impart on a player.
Corey Kluber had a 1.4 fWAR and made just 16 starts in 2021, but that one-year deal ended up being one of the most impactful the Yankees have handed out this decade.
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Without Corey Kluber, who knows what Michael King would have become with the Yankees, as the Padres may have been blown away by another team’s package without the star right-hander available. Could Carlos Carrasco’s mastery of a changeup allow him to impart valuable wisdom to a pitcher like Will Warren or Chase Hampton? Maybe Gerrit Cole finally nails down the changeup with Carrasco there to provide a perspective he may have never had before.
Should the Yankees look at Carlos Carrasco as a sixth starter? No. Should they look at him as a coach? Also no, that’s not what he’s with the organization to do first and foremost. They should look at him as a veteran in a position where they needed the depth, but a Minor League FA comes with zero cost, and there’s a non-zero chance that Carlos Carrasco can leave a lasting impact on a pitcher that alters the trajectory of their career.