I agree. For as much as we sometimes gripe, Civale has more value than being simply discarded or DFA’d.
A contending team could do worse than Civale as their # 5.
If Civale agrees with Milwaukee that he is not presently a major league starter then Civale automatically loses millions in free agency in the off season.
It will cost a team about $4.5 million to have Civale through season’s end. That is ten times more than the prorated league minimum salary.
This could be a good opportunity for someone to get a somewhat reliable starter for little or no prospect cost. Or, someone pays ten times more than necessary for replacement level innings. 🤷♂️
I remember being very excited for Ben Hendrickson‘s major league debut 21 years ago. I learned not every 2 ERA in AAA translates to the bigs 🙂
https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/LAN/LAN200406020.shtml
Civale is an above replacement level starting pitcher for a major league team, somewhere. He has been a good starting pitcher for half of his career. Probably not ever excellent but definitely good.
Civale is capable of being useful. He was productive in 2019, 2021 and 2023. I tend to agree that Civale is not a major liability in Milwaukee nor has he been an irreplaceable asset either. Civale was fine last year, too.
Ramon Urias of Baltimore?
Jonathan India is below replacement level this year but has some time at 3B
Will Gio Urshela (rehabbing soon) or Miguel Andujar (oblique injury) from Athletics? Luis Urias?
Everyone else is on contenders. Even the Royals are closer to wild card than Brewers.
Not saying anyone for Chad Patrick. Just finding available ML ready 3B.