Braves trade for veteran Carrasco from Yankees

KANSAS CITY -- The Braves are sellers. But their injury-depleted starting rotation has forced them to spend the past couple days buying from the clearance rack.

The Braves acquired Carlos Carrasco from the Yankees in exchange for cash or a player to be named later on Monday. This move was made less than 24 hours after Atlanta acquired Erick Fedde from the Cardinals, who had designated the veteran hurler for assignment last week.

There was a time when acquiring the 38-year-old Carrasco or the 32-year-old Fedde might have generated excitement. But for now, the two veterans will just serve as placeholders for a team that has its entire Opening Day rotation -- Chris Sale, Reynaldo López, Spencer Schwellenbach, AJ Smith-Shawver and Grant Holmes -- on the 60-day injured list.

Sale could return during the second half of August, and there’s a chance Schwellenbach could pitch again in September. López hopes to pitch again this year, but it’s unclear whether he’d be used as a starter or reliever.

With teams no longer having the option to make waiver-wire deals after the July 31 Trade Deadline, the Braves had to add some starters this week to serve as reinforcements over the remainder of this year.

The Braves’ starters over the next five days will likely be: Spencer Strider (Mon. at KC), Fedde (Tues. at KC), Joey Wentz (Wed. at KC), Carrasco (Thurs. at CIN) and Bryce Elder (Fri. at CIN).

At some point, the Braves could choose to add Hurston Waldrep (Braves No. 4 prospect) or other prospects. But without the ability to add external options beyond Thursday, there was still a need to add insurance this week.

Carrasco was designated for assignment by the Yankees and subsequently optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in early June. The 38-year-old posted a 5.91 ERA in eight outings (six starts) with New York this year and has a 3.27 ERA in 11 games (10 starts) with the RailRiders.