Carlos Carrasco. Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

Since the New York Mets returned from the All-Star break, two of their starting pitchers have performed at a high level: Kodai Senga and José Quintana. As for the rest of the rotation, it has been a difficult stretch, especially for Carlos Carrasco.

Saturday’s start against the Los Angeles Angels was his shortest of the season, allowing five runs and seven hits in just 1 2/3 innings. For an aging veteran attempting to show he is not in the starlight of his career, it was another consecutive extremely poor start

The Angels got two hits in the top of the first, getting on the board with an RBI single from Brandon Drury. But it went from bad to worse for Carrasco in the second, surrendering extra base hits to Mickey Moniak, Trey Cabbage, Shohei Ohtani, and Drury. Before the Mets’ offense could begin to get started, they were already in a 5-0 hole.

“I’m just trying to figure out what to do,” Carrasco said. “Something new, something old, trying to bring everything that I can so I can move forward.

Owner Steve Cohen and general manager Billy Eppler have been open and honest about their desire to build more towards to future of the team. One of the ways they can do that is by giving younger players an opportunity at the big-league level. Carrasco is 0-5 with a 10.24 ERA through eight starts in the second half. He has not performed at a level that should allow him to remain in the rotation.

Based off what was said last night, the Mets could be taking the right-hander out of the rotation in the near future. “Billy [Eppler, Mets GM] and I and [pitching coach Jeremy Hefner] have been talking about a lot of things about the pitching staff,” Showalter said. “As we get into September, I’m sure that’s something we’ll talk about.”

One name that immediately comes to mind to replace Carrasco is current Triple-A starter, and top prospect, Mike Vasil. The 23-year-old right-hand thrower just turned in another high-quality start Saturday, tossing six innings of one-run ball. Through 107 1/3 innings across Double-A and Triple-A this season he has held opposing hitters to a meager .219 batting average while average more than a strikeout per inning.