MLB Trade Rumors confirmed the move early Wednesday: the Athletics are designating right-hander Aaron Civale for assignment, cutting him loose from the 40-man roster during the thick of the trade-deadline stretch. It's a quiet but telling transaction from a rebuilding club that clearly decided it had seen enough.
MLB Trade Rumors broke the news that the Athletics are designating Civale for assignment.
Civale signed with Oakland (well, Sacramento now, but you know what we mean) back in February on a one-year, $6 million deal, the kind of low-risk flier teams hand out to veteran starters hoping for a bounce-back. It never materialized. Civale entered the DFA at 5-6 with an ERA hovering around 5.10 across 15 starts, and things got uglier after he missed about three weeks with right shoulder tendinitis. Since returning from that injury, he'd dropped four straight starts, part of a five-game losing skid that made the decision easy for a front office with nothing to play for.
This isn't really about Civale being a bad pitcher, he's a 30-year-old who's had solid stretches with Cleveland and Tampa Bay in years past. It's about fit and health. A rebuilding A's team doesn't need to keep paying a struggling veteran innings-eater rotation spot when the runway is better used auditioning younger arms, especially with the trade deadline squeezing 40-man spots league-wide.
Now Civale hits waivers, and the next 7 days matter. If no team claims him, the Athletics can outright him to the minors or, more likely given the money owed, he could be released outright and sign elsewhere as a rotation depth piece for a contender looking for a warm arm down the stretch. Either way, his time in green and gold looks like it's over almost as soon as it started.