The A’s and right-hander Aaron Civale are in agreement on a one-year contract, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. He’s guaranteed $6MM and can earn another $1.5MM via incentives. Civale is represented by agent Jack Toffey.
This is the second free agent agreement in the past five days for the A’s, who also came to terms with reliever Scott Barlow last Friday. The Athletics’ 40-man roster is full, so they’ll now need to open two spots in order to finalize that pair of late signings.
Civale has been a solid fourth or fifth starter for the bulk of his big league tenure. The 30-year-old righty sports a 4.24 ERA with a 21.8% strikeout rate, 6.6% walk rate and 39.4% ground-ball rate in 680 2/3 innings dating back to the 2020 season. He had a knack for working deeper into games early in his career but has typically been a five-inning starter in recent seasons as he’s posted progressively worse splits when turning a lineup over for a third time in a game.
Civale split the 2025 campaign between the Brewers, White Sox and Cubs. He logged a total of 102 innings (18 starts, five relief appearances) and turned in a 4.85 ERA that stands as the second-worst mark of his career. Civale’s strikeout and walk rates weren’t drastically different than in prior seasons, but he was more susceptible to home runs and experienced some atypical struggles with men on base; his 67.8% strand rate was the second-worst mark of his career, sitting nearly six percentage points shy of his lifetime mark.
From 2023-24, Civale notched a solid 3.97 earned run average in 54 starts between the Guardians, Brewers and Rays. He fanned a roughly average 22.2% of opponents against a 7.1% walk rate that was comfortably better than league-average. Civale doesn’t throw particularly hard, sitting 91-92 mph with his four-seamer, 92-93 mph with his sinker and 89-90 mph with a cutter. He also features a curveball around 77 mph and mixes in the occasional slider or splitter. It’s something of a kitchen-sink arsenal full of average-ish offerings that, at his best, play up a bit thanks to plus command.
With the A’s, Civale will step onto a staff that also include Luis Severino, Jeffrey Springs, Jacob Lopez and Luis Morales. Severino and Springs led the A’s in starts and innings pitched last season, both posting ERA marks in the low-4.00s. Lopez logged similar run-prevention numbers in 17 starts (3.96 ERA, 84 innings) but did so with superior rate stats (27.7 K%, 9.2 BB%), likely punching a ticket to the 2026 rotation in the process. The 23-year-old Morales, one of the organization’s top prospects, debuted with a 3.09 ERA in his first nine starts, whiffing 22.6% of batters and issuing walks at an 8.9% clip.
Civale should round out the starting rotation and ensure that the A’s don’t need to place too much pressure on flamethrowing Luis Medina (returning from 2024 Tommy John surgery) or top prospects Gage Jump and Jamie Arnold, either of whom could debut at some point in 2026 (with Jump being the likelier of the two). Depth options on the 40-man roster beyond the current group include Gunnar Hoglund, Jack Perkins, J.T. Ginn, Joey Estes and yet-to-debut prospects Henry Baez and Braden Nett. Some of those depth pieces who’ve already struggled at the MLB level could shift to relief roles.
Civale’s $6MM base salary should take the Athletics’ Opening Day payroll to around $95MM, though thanks to their spate of contract extensions for their core hitters, the team’s luxury tax/CBT payroll clocks in around a much heftier $146MM. They’ve still been active in the bullpen market and have been poking around the third base market as well, so other additions could still be on the horizon.
He’s butt
you are
He got a big one fo sho
He is willing to sign up to play in that stadium. At least Coors is air conditioned!
He has been traded 3 seasons in a row, multiple times even.
Good pickup hopefully he bounces back this year he looked great with the Cubs at the end of the year.
Reliably mediocre, back-of-the-rotation innings eater. Not a terrible value for $6 mill.
Yesterday the Marlins signed Paddack for a slightly lower, but generally similar amount. I strongly prefer Civale’s deal.
Gruß,
BSHH
He’s good, keeps the ball on the ground. If he’s worn thin at sp, he could always go to the pen.
It’s all relative, but this technically constitutes an upgrade.
“sitting 91-92 mph with his four-seamer, 92-93 mph with his sinker and 89-90 mph with a cutter”
Physics tells me the four-seamer has the highest velocity. Wonder how he throws his sinker? Maybe AI can tell me:
Key Techniques to Maximize Sinker Velocity
Tighter Grip: Position your index and middle fingers closer together along the seams to reduce friction and allow for higher velocity, similar to a four-seamer.
One-Seam Grip: Use a one-seam grip—rotating a two-seamer so only one row of seams interacts with the air—to reduce drag, which can increase velocity.
Aggressive Wrist Snap: Pronate the wrist slightly at release, but maintain the same high-intensity, “fast” feeling as a four-seam throw.
Finger Pressure: Apply more pressure on the index finger to help drive the ball downward, rather than just forcing it to tail.
Arm Angle: While lower slots help with movement, a 3/4 arm slot, similar to a four-seamer, allows for the maximum possible velocity.
what about throwing it like a football? You could almost name it as such…
Not a bad 5th starter to have.
So Sev-Springs-Lopez-Morales-Civale? Ginn to the BP.
Tito loved him
Good back of rotation add. Works in a not so easy West.
He didn’t want to become a reliever for the Brewers with free agency looming and cashed in with this after getting his wish (trade).