One of the things I find most annoying about today’s version of Major League Baseball is the constant roster churning teams do to overcome the difficulties of using four or five pitchers every game.

Consider the case of Carlos Carrasco, a relief pitcher in the Atlanta Braves bullpen and in his 17th big league season. He began the year with the Gwinnett Stripers, the AAA affiliate of the Braves. Since then, he has been on a rollercoaster ride between Gwinnett and Atlanta as the Braves churn their roster trying to have enough available relief pitchers.

On April 23, the Braves called Carrasco up from Gwinnett. He pitched a scoreless inning against the Washington Nationals that night, striking out one batter. Six days later the Braves designated him for assignment.

On May 1, Carrasco signed a minor league contract, and the Braves assigned him to Gwinnett; the next day the Braves called him back up to the big club. On May 4, Carrasco pitched 1 1/3 innings against the Seattle Mariners, allowing just one hit while striking out one batter. The following day the Braves once again designated him for assignment.

On May 7, Carrasco signed a minor league contract, and on May 8, the Braves assigned him to Gwinnett. On May 21, the Braves called him back up. On May 24, he pitched another scoreless inning against the Nationals, allowing no hits although he did hit one batter.

On May 27, Carrasco finally gave up a couple of runs in an outing in which he ate four innings of relief, giving up five hits and a home run in an 8-0 loss to the Boston Red Sox. Two days later, the Braves designated him for assignment.

But in the words of Gomer Pyle, “Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!” On May 31, Carrasco signed a minor league contract, and the Braves assigned him to Gwinnett. On June 3, the Braves called him back up, and he finally got into a game last night; he pitched 1 2/3 innings and gave up four hits, a walk, and a run. I expect the Braves to designate him for assignment any minute now.

And Carrasco is just one pitcher on one team. He is a veteran and has made millions of dollars over the years, but this roster churning can have a whole different effect on younger pitchers.

Take Bryce Elder for example. He came up in 2022 and was 12-4 in 2023, a season in which he also made the All-Star team. He did not make the opening day roster in 2024 and struggled in his starts when he made it back to Atlanta. The Braves then decided to yank him back and forth from Gwinnett to Atlanta that season, and they continued that pattern last year. Elder is finally out of minor league options, and he has pitched very well this season, going 5-3 with a 2.66 earned run average. It appears that he is finally off the roster-churning carnival ride.

But due to all the ups and downs to Gwinnett, Elder began this season with only two years and sixty-nine days of major league service time. As a result, the Braves are able to get away with paying him only $810,000, which is just $30,000 over the minimum major league salary.

I’m not one of those fans who thinks that everything was better back in the good old days. But when teams are carrying 13 pitchers and that somehow still isn’t enough, I long for the days of the four-man rotation and the ten-man pitching staff with pitchers who occasionally went nine innings.