If there’s not a spot for him in the Brewers’ rotation, then Aaron Civale wants out.
The veteran asked for a trade following his demotion to the bullpen to accommodate the recent promotion of top-100 prospect Jacob Misiorowski, as first reported by The Athletic and confirmed by The Post.
Civale has started all 122 regular-season games he’s appeared in through his seven seasons and Brewers managed Pat Murphy told reporters the 30-year-old is “not happy” about the move.
“The conversation was very professional,” agent Jack Toffey told the outlet Thursday of his request to general manager Matt Arnold. “I just very respectfully said that Aaron would really like an opportunity to continue his career as a starter. He’s going to be a free agent at the end of the year.”
Civale is 1-2 with a 4.91 ERA in five starts this season, but his spot in the rotation came into question once the Brewers opted for the future by promoting MLB.com’s No. 68 prospect in Misiorowski.
Despite Civale’s lack of bullpen experience, although he did appear in long relief in the wild-card round last season, Milwaukee thought the righty had the easiest transition among available options.
“Throughout his career, he’s been a successful starter in the major leagues, he helped us last year,” Murphy said, per the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “He’s been fine. … Even though he’s never done it, we think he can handle that. You look at Civale’s third-time-around numbers, he might be better suited on this year’s team right now, to disrupt everything else less, if he can be in that long relief role.”
In moving Civale to the bullpen, the Brewers are opting to use a rotation with mainstay Freddy Peralta, veteran Jose Quintana, standout rookie Chad Patrick and Quinn Priester.
All four of those pitchers have lower ERAs than Civale, with Priester’s 3.65 mark representing the highest number of the quartet.
Civale has posted a 3.84 ERA spanning 19 starts with the Brewers over the last two years following a trade to acquire him from the Rays last year.
“Aaron is not angry or banging his fist on the table,” Toffey told The Athletic.
“But it’s a little confusing because he did not pitch his way out of the rotation whatsoever. It’s more of a subjective choice the organization is making.”
Arnold told Toffey the team is exploring its options, per the report, and it’s possible something could together since plenty of teams are in the market for starters.
Finding a way to continue to start would potentially help Civale in free agency, as his agent indicated. He’s making a reasonable $8 million this year.
Clearing that salary would be in line with how the Brewers operate finanically.
“I’ve heard from other teams, through their channels of communication, that they have a plethora of starting pitching and are looking for trade partners, maybe not just on Aaron, but maybe another pitcher,” Toffey told The Athletic. “That’s my understanding.”