Guardians Trade Pitcher Aaron Civale to Rays Despite Tight Battle for First Place

Cleveland, which is currently 0.5 games out of first place in the AL Central, dealt one of its veteran starters for a prospect.

CLEVELAND (AP) — In the midst of the playoff race, the Guardians traded their hottest pitcher for a minor league prospect currently sidelined with an injury.

An uneven season in Cleveland just got a little bumpier.

Despite being just one-half game out of first place in the AL Central, the Guardians dealt starter Aaron Civale to the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday for first base prospect Kyle Manzardo, who has been out with a shoulder strain.

Civale’s name has been thrown around in trade speculation for weeks, which has coincided with the 28-year-old right-hander pitching as well as he has in several seasons. Civale posted a 1.45 ERA in six July starts and worked six scoreless innings Sunday in a win over the Chicago White Sox to improve to 5-2.

As for the Rays, Civale gives them another solid starter for the playoff push. Tampa Bay entered the week 1 1/2 games behind first-place Baltimore in the AL East and leading the wild-card standings by four games.

“I’ve seen his name on ESPN recently about a pretty good month of July, so that makes me excited,” Rays second baseman Brandon Lowe said at Yankee Stadium before the opener of a three-game series. “Hopefully he comes in and doesn’t miss a beat and keeps doing exactly what he’s been doing. No more pressure than what he’s been dealing with over in Cleveland.

“So he’s coming over, he’s going to be welcomed in like he’s been here all year.”

The Guardians have dealt with injuries to their rotation all season and are currently missing ace Shane Bieber, Triston McKenzie and Cal Quantrill. While the move with Civale creates a major pitching void for Cleveland, president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti said getting a player of Manzardo’s stature was more important.

“Tough trade to make,” Antonetti said in a Zoom call. “But we did feel it was a unique opportunity to acquire someone like Kyle. We knew it would come at a steep cost.”

Antonetti said it’s possible the Guardians could make more trades before Tuesday’s deadline to address their pitching issues.

Noah Syndergaard, acquired last week in a trade with the Dodgers, could help. The oft-injured right-hander is making his debut for the Guardians on Monday in Houston.

Manzardo, 23, was named Tampa’s top minor leaguer in 2022 after hitting .327 with 22 homers and 81 RBIs in 93 games between Single- and Double-A. Antonetti expects Manzardo to be playing in minor league games before the end of the season.

Cleveland has been in the market for a young power hitter for some time. The team is hoping Manzardo can end that search.

“The industry holds Kyle in high regard and we think he can develop into a really good offensive player and he’s a guy that’s near or close to the major leagues at some point in the next few seasons,” Antonetti said. “Those guys are not easy to acquire and so we made the choice in this case as we surveyed the landscape, but this is the right path forward for us.”