If you’re an Atlanta Braves fan, you probably thought that Sunday’s acquisition of St. Louis Cardinals right-hander Erick Fedde marked rock bottom, the cherry on top of the no-good, very bad sundae that is your team’s 2025 season.

Atlanta began the year with legitimate World Series hopes, fresh off two 100-win campaigns in the last three seasons; a few months later, they’re desperate to pick up a pitcher with an ERA north of 5 just to try and cobble together five healthy starters. Life comes at you fast.

But if baseball has taught us anything, it’s that, no matter how down you might be feeling, no matter how dark it may seem, things can always get worse.

And while the Fedde deal was bad enough, the Braves managed to follow it up with an even more depressing transaction less than 24 hours later.

According to multiple reports, the Braves have acquired veteran righty Carlos Carrasco from the New York Yankees in exchange for cash considerations.

The 38-year-old was picked up by the Yankees earlier this year due to some rotation injuries of their own, and managed to tread water well enough for a little while.

Before long, though, it became clear that things weren’t going to work out: After posting a 5.91 ERA over eight appearances (six starts), Carrasco was demoted to Triple-A, where he’s been ever since.

Of course, when literally your entire Opening Day rotation is on the IL, beggars can’t be choosers. The Braves need live bodies who can soak up innings between now and the end of the regular season, and Carrasco is technically that. But however much sense it may make in context, this transaction is a ringing indictment of just how badly things have gone in Atlanta.

MLB trade grades: Braves take one step closer to world’s worst pitching infinity gauntlet with Carlos Carrasco pickup

Braves grade: C

Again, after Grant Holmes was placead on the 60-day IL with an elbow injury that could end his season, Atlanta just need someone. 

Sale might be back at some point in August, but Schwellenbach and Reynaldo Lopez are far less certain, and unfortunately the Braves don’t have the option to just sim to the end of the regular season. Carrasco has tons of big-league experience, and he actually looked competent at times for New York this year.

But the fact that he was languishing in Triple-A, rather than accepting free agency or getting scooped up by another team in need of pitching depth, should tell you what the league thinks of Carrasco at this point in his career.

He simply doesn’t have the stuff to miss bats (he’s averaging 6.5 K/9 at Triple-A right now) or get outs consistently, much less turn over MLB lineups multiple times. This is not someone who belongs on a Major League mound, at least not as a starter on a team with this much talent.

And yet, the Braves had to fork over some cash for the privilege.

There are plenty of excuses to be made for why things went so wrong this year in Atlanta, but at the end of the day, you are what your record says you are, and you’re only as good as the next day’s starting pitcher.

Yankees grade: B

Will this make much of a difference for New York in the long run? Of course not. But again: No one was banging down the Yankees’ door for a pitcher they only were forced to employ because nearly everybody else had gotten hurt.

The fact that Brian Cashman was able to at least get some salary relief for his trouble should be considered a win, however small.