NEWSLETTER
It may be too early for most teams to engage in serious trade talks, but that isn’t stopping the Milwaukee Brewers from jumping to try to improve their injury-thinned rotation.
The return isn’t yet known for Civale, who is making $4.9 million this year, and is under team control for one more season. The Brewers more or less know they are going to the playoffs this year, but they presumably want to do everything they can to safeguard against falling out of the top spot in the NL Central.
Civale, 29, was intermittently average and good for a number of years before putting together a really strong 2023 campaign between the Guardians and Rays. His results have been much worse this year, though, with a 5.07 ERA that is 33% worse than league average by ERA-. His peripherals are a touch better, though, and he actually feels like a good buy-low candidate for a starter-needy club like the Brewers (who may not otherwise want to compete in that trade market in late-July).
For the Rays, the whole episode feels like a rare oopsie. They sent first base prospect Kyle Manzardo to the Guardians for Civale last summer, and although Manzardo still has to adjust to the big leagues (such a struggle for all top prospects right now), he did obliterate Triple-A after the trade.
UPDATE: As expected, the return for Civale is not enormous. It’s 20-year-old High-A shortstop Gregory Barrios, who is hitting relatively well this year, but hasn’t QUITE yet reached top-30 system status (since he signed in the 2021 IFA class to a decent, but not monster, bonus (a guy name Jackson Chourio got the big bonus in that year’s Brewers class)). That’s not to say he couldn’t become a guy – the Rays are pretty good at picking younger international prospects – but is only to say that the price to acquire a buy-low, reclamation starter like Civale was not enormous, even at this early part of the month. A desirable prospect, but not an eye-popping return.
