Aaron Civale was moved to the bullpen, and he wasn't happy about it. The tension boiled over this week when Civale went public, asking for a trade through his agent. The Milwaukee Brewers responded by trading the pending free agent to the worst team in the American League.
The Chicago White Sox traded first baseman Andrew Vaughn to acquire Civale from the Brewers on Friday, technically giving the pitcher what he wanted: a job in a starting rotation. Yet, it's probably not what Civale and his agent were thinking when he went to the Brewers asking to be moved somewhere else.
Entering Friday night's series opener against the Texas Rangers, the White Sox are only ahead of the historically bad Colorado Rockies for the worst record in MLB at 23-46. Civale got swapped from the surging Brewers, who have jumped up to second place in the NL Central after going 12-5 since May 25, to last-place Chicago. The resilient Brewers are now 2.5 games back of the San Diego Padres for the third Wild Card spot after being below .500 just three weeks ago.
The White Sox aren't as awful as their 2024 record-losing team, but Will Venable's club remains in full rebuild mode this season. Civale will be an innings-eater on a White Sox roster that's headed toward another 100-loss season.
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Trade to White Sox probably wasn't what Aaron Civale had in mind
The 30-year-old pitcher probably thought that if he was traded by the Brewers it would be to a contender. Plenty of teams across the league are starving for arms with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Toronto Blue Jays and Chicago Cubs among the top teams in search of rotation depth.
After the trade request went public on Thursday, Civale spoke to the media in Milwaukee and said the following via ESPN: "I'm not trying to leave this organization. I'm in a position physically where I feel like I can contribute best as a starting pitcher. Right now, that's not in my plans here. That's not to say that can't change, but the reason that would change is not necessarily a good thing. That means something happened to somebody else."
Well, requesting a trade and making it public sure is a way to show you don't want to leave an organization.
Brewers manager Pat Murphy didn't bad-mouth Civale, but he was ready to move on from the issue before it got to be a bigger distraction. "We deal with players being unhappy all the time," Murphy said. "That's their right to do. Aaron's got a great history. He's performed well for this organization. He's got a right to feel the way he wants to feel. Now it's time for him to go behave, and he's got to go pitch for us if we ask him to pitch for us. And I think he will. He's that type of guy. I respect him a great deal."
Aaron Civale still could get the last laugh
Although Civale is now with the White Sox, there's still a pretty good chance that he does end up with a contending team at the trade deadline. While the White Sox made a savvy mode to acquire the veteran, Civale could net Chris Getz a decent prospect in a few weeks' time; Chicago certainly doesn't plan on keeping a pending free agent down the stretch of another losing season.
The same teams who may have had interest in trading for Civale when he was in Milwaukee will still be inquiring about the righty if he continues to pitch well for the White Sox. He returned from the IL a few weeks ago and has recorded a 3.32 ERA in four starts, tossing 19 innings following a seven-week absence because of a hamstring strain.
Civale has a career 4.06 ERA in 122 MLB starts.
The seven-year veteran can give the White Sox cover for injuries in their starting rotation and help ease the workload of young pitchers on the 2025 team. However, the front office will likely try to take advantage of pitching-needy teams on the trade market.
So, just like tha, Civale could get the last laugh here if the White Sox flip him to a playoff team in July. The trade could really come back to bite the Brewers later on this year, because it makes sense for the division rival Cubs to explore a potential trade with the White Sox.
The Cubs and Brewers play each other seven times after the All-Star break. Don't be surprised if Civale ends up pitching in October, whether it be with the Cubs or some other team — which right now isn't a guarantee for the Brewers.