Guardians worst value: Fan’s favorite unexpected downfall
There was a time when Cleveland Guardians legend Carlos Carrasco was one of the better pitchers in baseball, but those days are sadly long gone.
Carrasco is now a free agent, so whether or not he returns to the Guardians remains to be seen, but based on the way he pitched in 2024, a reunion is probably not in the cards.
The 37-year-old went 3-10 with a 5.64 ERA while allowing 112 hits and registering 89 strikeouts over 103.2 innings of work, and Bleacher Report’s Joel Reuter named him Cleveland’s worst value in 2024 as a result.
Reuter had Carrasco’s value pegged at minus-11.6 million. He was playing out the season on a one-year, $2 million contract.
Carrasco began his big-league career with the Guardians in 2009 and spent his first 12 years in Cleveland. While he never made an All-Star appearance, he put together a terrific stretch between 2014 and 2018, with his best campaign coming in 2017 when he went 18-6 with a 3.29 ERA and finished fourth in AL Cy Young voting.
The Guardians then traded Carrasco to the New York Mets as part of the Francisco Lindor deal in January 2021, and after three underwhelming, mostly injury-riddled seasons with the Mets, he re-joined Cleveland last year.
Carrasco owns a lifetime 4.14 ERA and has averaged 9.1 strikeouts per nine innings.
The right-hander, affectionately known as “Cookie,” has long been a Guardians fan favorite, but it no longer seems like he can provide positive assistance to Cleveland’s pitching staff.
