Be careful what you wish for, at least if you’re new Chicago White Sox pitcher Aaron Civale.
Civale, 30, was traded from the Milwaukee Brewers to the White Sox in a one-for-one swap involving first baseman Andrew Vaughn, who heads to Wisconsin in the deal.
ESPN’s Jesse Rogers was the first to report the news.
Civale had publicly requested a trade from the Brewers after Milwaukee was planning to move the veteran right-hander to the bullpen thanks to the emergence of top pitching prospect Jacob Misiorowski, who tossed five hitless innings in his MLB debut on Thursday against the St. Louis Cardinals.
It’s unclear what the White Sox’s plans are for Civale, but given the state of their rotation, it seems likely that he’ll start there, with the possibility that he could be flipped again this summer as Chicago continues its rebuild.
The right-hander posted a 4.91 ERA and 1.36 WHIP in five starts with the Brewers before being traded, not exactly high-end production for a Milwaukee club that has generally fared well on the pitching side in recent years.
As for Andrew Vaughn, his underwhelming White Sox tenure concludes with negative WAR and a measly .531 OPS in 2025. The hope here is that a change of scenery can unlock the form that saw Vaughn crank 21 home runs over a full 2023 campaign, though even that figure feels pedestrian when juxtaposed against his once-promising status as a top-three draft pick back in 2019.
Heading into play on Friday, the Brewers rank just 25th in MLB in team OPS (.676), so if the 27-year-old Vaughn pick can get back to slugging, Milwaukee’s offensive production would stand to benefit greatly.
Overall, it seems like all sides are getting what they want out of this trade, even if Civale has to eat a slice of humble pie for now.
