Former Guardians pitcher lands in basement of AL Central after Brewers' trade request

On Thursday, former Guardian Aaron Civale asked for a trade from the Milwaukee Brewers in one of the odder MLB news drops in recent memory. 

Civale becoming to regret that request, however, as the Brewers traded him to Chicago White Sox earlier today.

Aaron Civale’s trade request results in move to lowly White Sox

It’s a weird thought to wrap your head around. Aaron Civale… on the White Sox? 

Civale was with Cleveland for parts of five seasons and posted a 3.77 ERA in exactly 430 innings. He had a great rookie season in 2019, two okay seasons (2020 and 2022), and two solid seasons (2021 and 2023). 

He had a 2.34 in 2023 prior to being traded to the Rays at the trade deadline in exchange for Kyle Manzardo, which is quickly becoming one of the best trades in recent Cleveland baseball history. 

Civale was traded to the Brewers at last year’s trade deadline, and now is off to another team less than a year. 

And what a team it is. 

While the White Sox aren’t as bad as they were last year when they were the worst team in baseball history, they’re still in the bottom of the American League Central with a 23-46 record, which is last in the American League. 

White Sox starters actually haven’t done that bad this year (4.04 ERA; 14th in MLB) and the team has been playing with a renewed spark under new manager Will Venable. 

Rule 5 pick Shane Smith has a 2.73 ERA and leads the team with 2.0 bWAR and Adrian Houser has a 1.48 ERA in four starts for the White Sox, and Civale will likely slot in as the team’s No. 3 starter behind them. 

Civale has 3.98 ERA in six career appearances at Guaranteed Rate Field, and he tossed six scoreless innings against the White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field in his final start with the Guardians.

The Guardians will likely get their first look at Civale this season when they travel to Chicago for a four-game series in July in their final action before the All-Star Break. 

The Sox dealt away a familiar face in Vaughn, who has a .221 batting average in 51 career games against the Guardians. The former first-round pick has mashed 77 home runs in his MLB career but is currently in Triple-A after hitting just .189 in his first 48 games of the season. The Brewers have already announced that Vaughn be assigned to Triple-A Nashville. 

It’s quite a fall from grace for Civale, who was traded for a top-100 prospect less than two years ago. While there’s still a chance the 30-year-old may be able to find the strong form he had earlier in his career, he’s going to be doing it on a losing team. 

There’s already been some buzz that the White Sox could try to flip Adrian Houser at the deadline after they signed him in May; could they do the same with Civale? 

Regardless of what they do, all of this is just another reminder of how the Guardians absolutely fleeced the Rays in their trade of Civale in 2023.