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July is the month of trades in Major League Baseball, and on Wednesday, we got our first big one.
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The Milwaukee Brewers have officially acquired right-handed pitcher Aaron Civale from the Tampa Bay Rays. Going back to Tampa Bay is minor-league infielder Gregory Barrios.
ST PETERSBURG, FLORIDA – JUNE 07: Aaron Civale #34 of the Tampa Bay Rays throws a pitch during the first inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Tropicana Field on June 07, 2024 in St Petersburg, Florida. Civale is on his way to Milwaukee in a trade.
Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images
Civale, 29, struggled in 2024 with Tampa. In 17 starts, Civale went 2-6 with a 5.07 ERA. He had 84 strikeouts and allowed 16 home runs in 87 innings pitched.
Civale has struggled ever since the Rays acquired him at last year’s trade deadline. Civale was sent to Tampa Bay last July in exchange for minor league first baseman Kyle Manzardo. In his time with the Rays, Civale had a 5.17 ERA across 27 starts.
Before joining the Rays last summer, Civale had spent the first four-and-a-half years of his career with the Cleveland Guardians. There, Civale was consistently solid, sporting a 3.77 ERA in 76 starts. He was in the midst of his best season during the first half of 2023, as he went 5-2 with a 2.34 ERA in 13 starts and 77 innings. Then, when he got to Tampa, he struggled.
Civale will hope that a change of scenery gets him back to his pre-Tampa days, and the Brewers are banking on that, too. The Brewers’ rotation has been ravaged by injuries this year, as they’ve already had 15 different starting pitchers.
The Milwaukee Brewers have already used 14 different starting pitchers this season. That’s more than any other Brewers team in any one season in history because of course it is.
— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) June 26, 2024
Civale will be No. 16 when he makes his first start, but Milwaukee will hope he can provide some stability in the rotation. The Brewers enter Wednesday with a 51-35 record and a six-game lead in the National League Central over the second-place St. Louis Cardinals.
As for the Rays, they’ve started playing better as of late and are above .500 at 43-42. However, Civale wasn’t exactly helping their cause, so they now move off of him and get one of the Brewers’ top infield prospects.
Barrios, 20, is already listed as the Rays’ No. 19 prospect on MLB Pipeline. The former international signing out of Venezuela was in the midst of an impressive season at High-A, slashing .325/.367/.429 with 17 doubles, 34 RBIs, and 18 stolen bases in 61 games. This has been by far his best year as a pro, and he’ll look to continue to improve in Tampa Bay’s system.
This is the first of what will be many trades ahead of the July 30 deadline. But on Wednesday, the Brewers felt they didn’t want to wait to acquire a starter and kick off MLB trade season.
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