The Athletics made a pitching shakeup on Wednesday, and Aaron Civale was one of the names caught in it.
Civale, a former Guardians starter, was designated for assignment as Oakland cleared a spot for pitching prospect Yunior Tur. The move came one day after the A’s fired pitching coach Scott Emerson, a sign the club is trying to rework its pitching setup as it comes out of the All-Star Break.
The timing makes sense given how rough things have been on the mound. The Athletics entered the break with a 4.91 team ERA, third-worst in baseball, and they’ve also been mired in a serious slump, going 3-17 in their last 20 games. They’re currently in the midst of a nine-game winning streak, but Civale’s exit is part of the broader reset.
For Civale, the DFA is another turn in a rocky stretch since the Guardians traded him to the Rays in 2023. The 31-year-old has posted a 5.42 ERA in 74 2/3 innings this season, which would be the highest mark of his career.
He opened the year well, then landed on the injured list at the end of May with right shoulder tendonitis after giving up seven runs in four innings against the Mariners. When he returned to the rotation in mid-June, things didn’t get much better; he has a 9.00 ERA in 19 innings since.
His path since leaving Cleveland has been all over the map. He struggled in two seasons with the Rays, then finished 2024 with the Brewers and put up a 3.53 ERA in 74 innings.
That momentum didn’t last long. A year later, he got off to another rough start, asked for a trade, and was dealt to the White Sox, who also moved on from him after 67 subpar innings.
He finished the year in the Cubs’ bullpen and threw 4 1/3 scoreless innings for Chicago in the postseason.
Civale has long looked like the kind of pitcher who fit the Guardians’ pitching lab, with an arsenal built more on deception and variance than big velocity, and that hasn’t changed since he left Cleveland. He still throws strikes, with a 6.7% walk rate, but the rest of the profile has been shaky: he’s in the 12th percentile in whiff rate, the 14th percentile in strikeout rate, and his 27.2% ground ball rate is one of the worst in baseball.
A waiver claim seems unlikely because any team that takes him would also take on what remains of his $6 million salary, so he’ll probably wind up a free agent. If that happens, a veteran-minimum deal somewhere wouldn’t be a surprise. He did pitch better away from Sacramento’s hitter-friendly setup, posting a 4.25 ERA in 42 1/3 innings, and he has also had some success working out of the bullpen.
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