Headlines

  • Royals Finalizing Extension With Seth Lugo
  • Braves Acquire Erick Fedde, Place Grant Holmes On 60-Day IL
  • Yankees Place Aaron Judge On Injured List With Flexor Strain
  • Top 50 Trade Candidates For The 2025 Deadline
  • Yankees Acquire Amed Rosario
  • Royals Acquire Randal Grichuk
  • Previous
  • Next
Register
Login
  • Hoops Rumors
  • Pro Football Rumors
  • Pro Hockey Rumors

MLB Trade Rumors

Remove Ads
  • Home
  • Teams
    • AL East
      • Baltimore Orioles
      • Boston Red Sox
      • New York Yankees
      • Tampa Bay Rays
      • Toronto Blue Jays
    • AL Central
      • Chicago White Sox
      • Cleveland Guardians
      • Detroit Tigers
      • Kansas City Royals
      • Minnesota Twins
    • AL West
      • Houston Astros
      • Los Angeles Angels
      • Oakland Athletics
      • Seattle Mariners
      • Texas Rangers
    • NL East
      • Atlanta Braves
      • Miami Marlins
      • New York Mets
      • Philadelphia Phillies
      • Washington Nationals
    • NL Central
      • Chicago Cubs
      • Cincinnati Reds
      • Milwaukee Brewers
      • Pittsburgh Pirates
      • St. Louis Cardinals
    • NL West
      • Arizona Diamondbacks
      • Colorado Rockies
      • Los Angeles Dodgers
      • San Diego Padres
      • San Francisco Giants
  • About
    • MLB Trade Rumors
    • Tim Dierkes
    • Writing team
    • Advertise
    • Archives
  • Contact
  • Tools
    • 2025 Trade Deadline Outlook Series
    • 2025-26 MLB Free Agent List
    • Contract Tracker
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Agency Database
  • NBA/NFL/NHL
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors
  • App
  • Chats
Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Brewers Move Aaron Civale To Bullpen

By Steve Adams | June 11, 2025 at 12:26pm CDT

The Brewers plan to move right-hander Aaron Civale from the rotation to the bullpen now that top prospect Jacob Misiorowski has been promoted for his major league debut, manager Pat Murphy tells the team’s beat (link via Adam McCalvy of MLB.com).

It’s a tough shift for Civale, a pending free agent who’s been pitching well since returning from a seven-week stay on the injured list due to a hamstring strain. The 29-year-old righty — 30 tomorrow — has tossed 19 innings with a 3.32 ERA and 17-to-6 K/BB ratio since being reinstated on May 22. The results have been solid, though it bears mentioning that Civale hasn’t exactly been efficient. He’s yet to pitch more than 5 1/3 innings in a start and was lifted from his most recent appearance after 80 pitches in 4 2/3 frames.

Even still, Civale’s first appearance in relief with the Brewers will be the first relief outing of his entire professional career. Since being selected by Cleveland in the third round of the 2016 draft, he’s pitched in 86 minor league games and 122 major league contests. Every single one of them has been a start. Between that history as a starter, Civale’s broader track record of big league success and his run of solid results since returning from the injured list, the move surely comes as a surprise to the righty. Murphy conceded that Civale was “not happy” when informed of the decision.

Milwaukee bought low on Civale just under 11 months ago, sending minor league infielder Gregory Barrios to the Rays in an early July swap to acquire him. At the time of the trade, Civale had limped to an ERA north of 5.00, but he righted the ship with the Brewers and pitched to a 3.53 ERA in 14 starts with Milwaukee over the season’s final three months. Between that solid finish to his ’24 season and his first five starts in ’25, Civale touts a 3.84 earned run average with a 20.7% strikeout rate and 7.9% walk rate in 96 innings as a Brewer.

Civale has averaged only five innings per start, but Milwaukee tends to have quicker hooks on its starting pitchers than most organizations. Only the Marlins have allowed a pitcher to face hitters a third time less often than the Brewers in 2025 — and by a margin of only two batters (243 for Milwaukee to 241 for Miami). Dating back to last year, Milwaukee pitchers have the fourth-fewest instances of facing a batter for a third time within a game. Civale’s career splits the second and third trip through the order are virtually identical: opponents facing him a second time in a game have a .257/.307/.451 slash compared to .255/.310/.451 a third time. (In the Brewers’ and Rays’ defense, those splits were more pronounced in 2024.)

All of that is to say, some frustration from Civale is understandable. Starting games is all he’s known since being drafted, and he’s now being asked to change roles less than three months from free agency at a time when he’s not pitching poorly. However, as I noted when recently looking at Milwaukee’s sudden and surprising glut of starting pitching, some tough decisions were bound to be made.

This certainly falls under that category. The team surely does not take lightly the fact that a move to the bullpen could have real ramifications on Civale’s earning power on the open market, but the alternatives would have been burning Quinn Priester’s final option year (at a time when he’s also pitching well) or optioning Chad Patrick — one of the NL Rookie of the Year frontrunners. Milwaukee could also have kept Misiorowski in Triple-A, but he’s pitched a 2.13 ERA there this season, including a 1.81 mark with a 33.5% strikeout rate over his past nine starts. Command is an issue — he’s walked 10.8% of opponents in that stretch, including nine in his past seven innings — but Misiorowski’s results and ability to miss bats generally seem worthy of a big league look.

Any mention of a veteran player being unhappy with a role change is going to prompt speculation about a trade — particularly when he’s affordable and playing on an expiring contract. Milwaukee would likely have gotten interest in Civale (and teammates Jose Quintana and Freddy Peralta) for those reasons anyhow, however, and there’s no indication that Civale has asked or will ask for a trade — frustration notwithstanding. Given the frequency of pitching injuries and the unconventional manner in which the Brewers tend to deploy their pitching staff, it wouldn’t be all that surprising if Civale found himself back in the rotation before long.

Today’s news and his manager’s willingness to concede some frustration on the player’s behalf do perhaps nominally increase the likelihood of an eventual trade. That said, one need only look at the Brewers’ deadline dealings over the years and the current state of their pitching staff to realize that a Civale trade was already a distinct possibility regardless.

Share 0 Retweet 0 Send via email0

Milwaukee Brewers Aaron Civale Jacob Misiorowski

Blue Jays Select Will Robertson, Place Nathan Lukes On Injured List
Main
Poll: Which Team Has Been Hit The Hardest By Injuries This Year?
View Comments (31)
Post a Comment

31 Comments

  1. Never Remember

    2 months ago

    Can never have enough mediocre pitchers and Brewers are full of them

    1
    Reply
    • Captain K-Mid

      2 months ago

      The Brewers have one of the deeper, quality staffs in the league. They don’t have two ace pitchers like a lot of other teams, but they are getting quality innings out of call ups every day this season. Its their hitting that is mediocre

      11
      Reply
    • cheesemanforever

      2 months ago

      Brewers starters ERA among tops in the NL. Patrick has been great but bad today, maybe on a short leash (with options) if he has another rough outing.

      Reply
  2. brewpackbuckbadg

    2 months ago

    What should they expect to get back in a Civale trade? Should it be more than they gave up? He is pitching better now and at the time of the trade last year he was actually looking like a non tender option, right?

    3
    Reply
    • kripes-brewers

      2 months ago

      How about a AA 3B with 60 grade or better power and hit tools? Please and thank you!

      2
      Reply
      • gormanthomasrules

        2 months ago

        Once upon a time there was prospect named Brock Wilken.

        Reply
        • kripes-brewers

          2 months ago

          Yep. There’s another one named Mike Boeve. Both seem to have hit rough patches at AA this year. It’s really been since Aramis Ramirez that I felt pretty good about 3B. Seems like forever ago, sadly.

          Reply
        • tangerinepony

          2 months ago

          He’s still alive and well. Just be patient Wilken will thrive and contribute

          Reply
    • Tigers3232

      2 months ago

      I don’t know if they could get back less than they gave up. The kid they gave up as 2 HRs and 99 SBs over almost 1,300 MiLB games. That’s spectacularly little power in today’s game, especially considering he doesn’t have great speed or something to offset it a bit.

      Reply
  3. solaris602

    2 months ago

    As a CLE fan I’d love to see Civale reunited with the Guardians. He’d be a great replacement for Ben Lively who recently had TJS – very similar pitchers.

    6
    Reply
  4. Rob66

    2 months ago

    Maybe he breaks out even more as a reliever?

    1
    Reply
  5. DonOsbourne

    2 months ago

    The NL Central is suddenly getting very competitive.

    3
    Reply
    • Acoss1331

      2 months ago

      I will never underestimate the Brewers. Cubs have collapsed at the end two seasons in a row, I won’t feel confident until they’re actually in the playoffs.

      Cardinals are right in it as well, I’ll admit, I thought they’d be below 500 by now. Interesting to see what Mo does at the deadline now.

      4
      Reply
  6. Captain K-Mid

    2 months ago

    I don’t get why there is always blow back on Civale. He’s a #5 starting pitcher in the league, plain and simple. The going rate for those guys is like $10 million/year. Half the league could use Civale as their #5 guy right now, and would also trade a guy in the DSL league for him right now like the Brewers did. The thing is there are always injuries, so the risk/reward for trading him isn’t worth it unless they can get a utility guy that can actually get on base that another team doesn’t need.

    Reply
  7. Cardinals are good

    2 months ago

    He’ll get traded at the deadline again

    2
    Reply
    • Steinbrenner2728

      2 months ago

      He won’t.

      Reply
      • Cardinals are good

        2 months ago

        Wtf are you saying now after he just requested a trade

        Reply
  8. AdmiralPatton

    2 months ago

    That Priester trade was so dumb. Panic moves like that never work and now they don’t even need him

    1
    Reply
    • Russell Branyan

      2 months ago

      You may want to check out Priesters last few starts, and the Brewers track record with pitchers. The Brewers surely weren’t targeting him just to fill in, and now have him ahead of Civale.
      1st round pick & a couple lottery picks is not too steep for a quality backend starter with 6 years of control.

      4
      Reply
    • cheesemanforever

      2 months ago

      4-2 with a 3.65 ERA and a ground ball-inducing machine. (And controllable for another six years.) Yeah, that was sure dumb.

      1
      Reply
    • Brett Baty’s Bat

      2 months ago

      That Priester comment sure is dumb. Aggressive ignorance is your calling card. Stand tall and be proud of your lazy uninformed takes. Post more. Laugh more.

      1
      Reply
  9. AdmiralPatton

    2 months ago

    That Priester trade was so dumb. Panic moves like that never work and now they don’t even need him anymore

    Reply
    • brewcrewfan82

      2 months ago

      Priester is young and controllable, the exact opposite of Civale. He’s been pitching well as of late and could be a major piece of the rotation for years to come. Civale was trade bait a week ago, and seems even more so as of today.

      6
      Reply
      • gormanthomasrules

        2 months ago

        I’d rather take a chance on Preister’s upside as a 4/5 than Civale.. Cheaper and more years on control too.

        5
        Reply
  10. sorengo99

    2 months ago

    Good thing the Brewers and Orioles already have a working relationship…

    Reply
  11. harrycarey

    2 months ago

    Maybe the Dodgers have a third baseman or even a shortstop they are willing to trade as they have 13 pitchers on the DL.

    1
    Reply
  12. stubby66

    2 months ago

    I will tell you what there are a lot of teams that could use Quintana, Civale, Cortes, Myers, Payamps, Anderson, Pegura, Mcgee and Zastaney. Even playoffs team would be a lot better with them on in it. Brewers just gotta find some offense in those trades. Hopefully Mitchell, Perkins, Black and Quero will be back or brought up before July 1.

    Reply
    • SharksFan91

      2 months ago

      Black isn’t the answer to an everyday role at any position in MLB.

      Reply
  13. HEHEHATE

    2 months ago

    Guy lost his job to Chad Patrick.

    Best of luck on the market civale.

    You’ll need it here.

    Reply
  14. tangerinepony

    2 months ago

    The brewers are somehow getting it done pitching with a bunch of mediocre slugs, retreads from other teams

    Reply
  15. Jeremy320

    2 months ago

    Civale has just requested a trade per Brewer’s beat reporters.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Please login to leave a reply.

Log in Register

    Top Stories

    Royals Finalizing Extension With Seth Lugo

    Braves Acquire Erick Fedde, Place Grant Holmes On 60-Day IL

    Yankees Place Aaron Judge On Injured List With Flexor Strain

    Top 50 Trade Candidates For The 2025 Deadline

    Yankees Acquire Amed Rosario

    Royals Acquire Randal Grichuk

    Aaron Judge Undergoing Testing For “Elbow Issue”

    Yankees Acquire Ryan McMahon

    Mets Acquire Gregory Soto

    Padres Interested In Luis Robert Jr., Ramón Laureano

    Mariners Acquire Josh Naylor

    Latest On Eugenio Suárez’s Market

    Pirates Listening On Oneil Cruz; Deal Seen As Unlikely

    Diamondbacks Reportedly Planning To Be Deadline Sellers

    Jesse Chavez Announces Retirement

    Padres Among Teams Interested In Sandy Alcantara

    Rays Option Taj Bradley

    Padres Have Discussed Dylan Cease With Several Teams

    Guardians Open To Offers On Shane Bieber

    Cardinals Designate Erick Fedde For Assignment

    Recent

    Royals Finalizing Extension With Seth Lugo

    Starling Marte Drawing Trade Interest

    Latest On Rockies’ Trade Candidates

    Giants To Promote Carson Whisenhunt

    Astros Interested In Willi Castro

    Dodgers Notes: Snell, Ohtani, Rotation, Miller, Treinen

    Dodgers Release Lou Trivino

    Braves Acquire Erick Fedde, Place Grant Holmes On 60-Day IL

    Cubs Interested In Raisel Iglesias, MacKenzie Gore

    Reds’ Carson Spiers To Undergo UCL Surgery

    MLBTR Newsletter - Hot stove highlights in your inbox, five days a week

    Latest Rumors & News

    Latest Rumors & News

    • Eugenio Suarez Rumors
    • Sandy Alcantara Rumors
    • Luis Robert Rumors
    • Ryan O’Hearn Rumors
    • Mitch Keller Rumors
    • David Bednar Rumors
    • Marcell Ozuna Rumors
    • Merrill Kelly Rumors
    • Zac Gallen Rumors
    • Seth Lugo Rumors
    • Ryan Helsley Rumors
    Trade Rumors App for iOS and Android App Store Google Play

    MLBTR Features

    MLBTR Features

    • Remove Ads, Support Our Writers
    • Front Office Originals
    • Front Office Fantasy Baseball
    • MLBTR Podcast
    • Trade Deadline Outlook Series
    • 2025-26 MLB Free Agent List
    • Contract Tracker
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Extension Tracker
    • Agency Database
    • MLBTR On Twitter
    • MLBTR On Facebook
    • Team Facebook Pages
    • How To Set Up Notifications For Breaking News
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors

    Rumors By Team

    • Angels Rumors
    • Astros Rumors
    • Athletics Rumors
    • Blue Jays Rumors
    • Braves Rumors
    • Brewers Rumors
    • Cardinals Rumors
    • Cubs Rumors
    • Diamondbacks Rumors
    • Dodgers Rumors
    • Giants Rumors
    • Guardians Rumors
    • Mariners Rumors
    • Marlins Rumors
    • Mets Rumors
    • Nationals Rumors
    • Orioles Rumors
    • Padres Rumors
    • Phillies Rumors
    • Pirates Rumors
    • Rangers Rumors
    • Rays Rumors
    • Red Sox Rumors
    • Reds Rumors
    • Rockies Rumors
    • Royals Rumors
    • Tigers Rumors
    • Twins Rumors
    • White Sox Rumors
    • Yankees Rumors

    Navigation

    • Sitemap
    • Archives
    • RSS/Twitter Feeds By Team

    MLBTR INFO

    • Advertise
    • About
    • Commenting Policy
    • Privacy Policy

    Connect

    • Contact Us
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS Feed

    MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

    Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

    hide arrows scroll to top

    Register

    Desktop Version | Switch To Mobile Version