The Tampa Bay Rays have acquired right-handed starter Aaron Civale from the Cleveland Guardians in exchange for first baseman Kyle Manzardo, the teams announced Monday.
Civale, 28, is under team control through the 2025 season, making him more than a short-term rental. In 13 starts this season, he's compiled a 2.34 ERA (180 ERA+) and a 2.64 strikeout-to-walk ratio. While those marks are impressive, it's worth noting that Civale is striking out fewer batters, walking more batters, and allowing harder average contact than he did in 2022. In other words, he's probably not in the midst of a breakout -- even if his ERA is very shiny.
Civale is also far from a sure thing physically. He's cracked the 100-inning threshold just once in his first four big-league seasons. (He's 23 innings away from doing it again this season, suggesting he should soon make it twice in five attempts.) The last thing the Rays rotation needs is another injury. They're currently without Jeffrey Springs, Drew Rasmussen, and Shane Baz. Zach Eflin also left his most recent start with a knee issue, but he'll avoid the IL.
Manzardo, 23, is currently on the shelf himself. He entered the season ranked by CBS Sports as the third-best youngster in Tampa Bay's system thanks to his track record of hitting for contact and getting on base. Alas, Manzardo had hit just .238/.342/.442 with 11 home runs in 73 Triple-A games this season before being placed on the IL in mid-July with an undisclosed issue. The main knock against Manzardo in the past had been that he doesn't hit for the kind of power typically associated with the first-base position.