Tampa Bay Rays add hot starting pitcher ahead of trade deadline

The Tampa Bay Rays have added one of the hottest starting pitchers in MLB ahead of the trade deadline.

The Rays on Monday acquired Aaron Civale in a trade with the Cleveland Guardians. Tampa Bay is sending first baseman prospect Kyle Manzardo to Cleveland in return.

Civale missed nearly two months due to an oblique strain, but he has been dynamite this year.

The 28-year-old has a 2.34 ERA and 1.04 WHIP in 77 innings this season. He has made 13 starts and is 5-2. In July, he had a 1.45 ERA over six starts.

Aaron Civale's month of July:

Six starts, 1.45 ERA
Opponent slash line: .176/.229/.229

Now has a 2.34 ERA this season.

— Zack Meisel (@ZackMeisel) July 30, 2023

The added bonus about Civale is that he is under team control through 2025, so he’s not a short-term rental.

In order to add him, Tampa Bay had to give up Manzardo, who is a top hitting prospect. Manzardo has a .291 batting average and .935 OPS in his minor league career, though he has batted just .238 in Triple-A this season.

Why would Cleveland, which entered Monday 53-53 and only 0.5 games out of first in the AL Central, trade such a good pitcher? Maybe for a few reasons.

Cleveland may feel that they are selling high on Civale and getting a player they like a lot in return. They may also have confidence in their rotation thanks to the emergence of youngsters Tanner Bibee, Logan Allen and Gavin Williams. Plus, they may feel like Shane Bieber and Triston McKenzie will be able to return from their injuries healthy.

The Rays are already planning to have Civale pitch for them on Saturday.

The plan for Aaron Civale is for him to pitch on Saturday.

Kevin Cash also mentioned that Taj Bradley handled the news well and that they hope going down there, he can work on some things & that likely he’ll be back up at some point.

— Tricia Whitaker (@TriciaWhitaker) July 31, 2023