CIVALE traded away, Rays bolster rotation in deal with Guardians. ● August 1, 2023
-
Rays bolster rotation in deal with Guardians
The Tampa Bay Rays began filling in an injury-depleted starting rotation Monday by trading for Cleveland Guardians hurler Aaron Civale, according to ESPN's Jeff Passan. The deal will send Kyle Manzardo, a first baseman and top-50 overall prospect in baseball, to Cleveland.
Civale, who missed two months due to injury, has been stellar when on the mound in 2023, tallying a 2.34 ERA that is second-best among starters with at least 50 innings. The underlying numbers don't support the idea that he will sustain that level of excellence, but the 28-year-old right-hander has been a solid major-league starter and is under team control through 2025. The Rays, in the midst of a high-flying AL East race, have been scrambling to fill out their rotation since Drew Rasmussen and Jeffrey Springs went down earlier this season. Civale will slot in and could be particularly important if the Rays decide to demote rookie Taj Bradley for innings or performance reasons.
Manzardo, currently on the injured list at Triple-A, could be ready to help the offense-starved Guardians as soon as he is healthy, and certainly he'll be part of their equation in 2024. Projected to be a very strong hitter, Manzardo could give the Guardians a much-needed threat in the lineup. Only perennial MVP contender José Ramirez and first baseman Josh Naylor have been significantly above average as hitters for Cleveland this season. Depending on when Manzardo is ready to debut in the majors, this could create a question of where to deploy Naylor and offseason signing Josh Bell, a first baseman and designated hitter.
-
They got rid of Bell today, opening up first base for Manzardo, if he can claim in next year.
-
I wouldn’t be surprised if this is Tito’s last year. He sounded as if he has had enough
-
I wouldn’t be surprised if this is Tito’s last year. He sounded as if he has had enough
I've been wondering about his health for years now. BIG loss if Tito Francona retires.
-
Once Bieber went on the 60 day IL and McKenzie went back on the injury list trying to compete for this season intelligently was ended by the Guardians.
All their moves (trading free agent-to-be Amed Rosario to free up shortstop for Arias/Freeman/Rocchio, trading oft-injured Civale to get a power hitting 1b for a team desperate for power beyond JRam and Naylor, trading Bell to free up 1b next year for Manzardo) have been to look forward to next season.
It sucks this season went this way, but it was the smart move to move on to planning for 2024.
-
Once Bieber went on the 60 day IL and McKenzie went back on the injury list trying to compete for this season intelligently was ended by the Guardians.
All their moves (trading free agent-to-be Amed Rosario to free up shortstop for Arias/Freeman/Rocchio, trading oft-injured Civale to get a power hitting 1b for a team desperate for power beyond JRam and Naylor, trading Bell to free up 1b next year for Manzardo) have been to look forward to next season.
It sucks this season went this way, but it was the smart move to move on to planning for 2024.
Once Bieber went on the 60 day IL and McKenzie went back on the injury list trying to compete for this season intelligently was ended by the Guardians.
All their moves (trading free agent-to-be Amed Rosario to free up shortstop for Arias/Freeman/Rocchio, trading oft-injured Civale to get a power hitting 1b for a team desperate for power beyond JRam and Naylor, trading Bell to free up 1b next year for Manzardo) have been to look forward to next season.
It sucks this season went this way, but it was the smart move to move on to planning for 2024.
By one of the IF not the best FO (or EO) in MLB, they know how to make the checker or poker moves in the business. Nice to hear from Chris Antonetti during the game tonight or the other Execs during the other games occasionally.

Executive Office
Paul J. Dolan - Owner/Chairman/Chief Executive Officer
Chris Antonetti - President, Baseball Operations
Brian Barren - President, Business Operations
Mike Chernoff - General Manager
Matt Forman - Executive Vice President & Assistant General Manager
Hello! It looks like you're interested in this conversation, but you don't have an account yet.
Getting fed up of having to scroll through the same posts each visit? When you register for an account, you'll always come back to exactly where you were before, and choose to be notified of new replies (either via email, or push notification). You'll also be able to save bookmarks and upvote posts to show your appreciation to other community members.
With your input, this post could be even better 💗
Register Login