Brewers acquire Civale from Rays for IF prospect Barrios

DENVER -- The Brewers, leading the National League Central every day since the start of May despite a slew of injuries to starting pitchers, made another move Wednesday to support that group when they acquired right-hander Aaron Civale in a trade with the Rays for infield prospect Gregory Barrios, who was ranked No. 21 on MLB Pipeline’s list of Milwaukee’s top 30 prospects.

The move for Civale, 29, a six-pitch command artist who is controllable through next season, comes one week after the Brewers picked up veteran left-hander Dallas Keuchel from the Mariners’ Triple-A affiliate. Keuchel pitched into the sixth inning of Tuesday’s 4-3 win over the Rockies at Coors Field while the Brewers were working to finalize the addition of Civale, a former third-round Draft pick of Cleveland in 2016 who is 33-32 with a 4.10 ERA in 103 Major League starts since 2019.

TRADE DETAILS
Rays get: INF Gregory Barrios (Milwaukee's No. 21 prospect)
Brewers get: RHP Aaron Civale

He had a 3.77 ERA on parts of five seasons for the Guardians before they dealt him to the Rays at the 2023 Deadline for Minor Leaguer Kyle Manzardo, who was MLB Pipeline’s No. 37 prospect at the time. But Civale hasn’t had the same success in Tampa, where he had a 5.17 ERA in 27 starts including going 2-6 with a 5.07 ERA this season while his most-used pitch, a cutter, has yielded a .301 opponents’ average.

Civale most recently pitched on Saturday, allowing two earned runs on six hits in 5 2/3 innings against the Nationals. He is expected to join the Brewers for their next series in Los Angeles and will start Friday or Saturday against the Dodgers, Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy said.

He’ll be another option for the Brewers, who knew they would be without longtime co-ace Brandon Woodruff (shoulder surgery) when they traded former Cy Young Award winner Corbin Burnes to the Orioles just before the start of Spring Training. They intended to cover the loss of those longtime producers with depth, but that depth has been severely tested.

Two left-handers, veteran Wade Miley and prospect Robert Gasser, underwent Tommy John surgery and are lost for the year. DL Hall, one of two Major League-ready prospects acquired for Burnes, has spent most of this season on the IL with a knee injury, though he is currently close to returning. And two veteran right-handers also have missed significant time; Joe Ross is on the 60-day IL with a back injury, and Jakob Junis spent more than two months on the IL with a shoulder injury and has been pitching out of the bullpen since returning late last month.

With that background, it was not especially surprising that when Murphy was asked what he likes best about Civale, he quipped, "He's a pitcher."

"This guy has a reputation of being a guy that will take the ball every time and compete," Murphy said. "I think he fits in. I really do. My two cents of input on the Trade Deadline is like, don't get them unless they're the right people. Don't get them unless it fits what's going on in this place."

Barrios, one of the Brewers’ top signs out of Venezuela during the 2020-21 international signing period, has a .796 OPS this season at High-A Wisconsin while mostly playing shortstop.

"I think it's great to [make a trade] early if you can," Murphy said. "The kid we traded, Barrios, he's a good player, man. They got a good player. He can defend, and his numbers are good in a tough league to hit in. He's doing a great job.

"Trades should be that way, right? Both teams should get a good player."