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A few thoughts about the Cubs and Aaron Civale
- Story by
- A few thoughts about the Cubs and Aaron Civale
Cubs President of Baseball Operations Jed Hoyer must like Aaron Civale a lot, because he's acquired him not once, but twice.
The White Sox waived him at the end of August 2025 and the Cubs claimed him. He pitched just five times in September, but very well: 2.08 ERA, 0.538 WHIP and one save in 13 innings, with 14 strikeouts. That was good enough for 0.3 bWAR — in just five appearances, that's pretty impressive.
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(Incidentally, as well as the White Sox have done in trades lately, their acquisition of Civale in June 2025 was a terrible deal on their part — they got him for Andrew Vaughn, who's done quite well in Milwaukee, while Civale posted a 5.37 ERA in 13 starts for the Sox.)
Anyway, the Cubs let Civale walk in free agency last offseason and he signed a one-year, $6 million deal with the A's, who put him in their rotation. He wasn't any good there, either, posting a 5.42 ERA and 1.621 WHIP, with 16 home runs allowed in 74.2 innings. (In fairness, part of that was due to the A's minor league home park, Sutter Health Park, where 238 home runs were hit in 2026. That led MLB… tied with Wrigley Field.)
On July 18, the Cubs traded a minor league prospect named Aiden Moffett to the A's for Civale. Trust me when I say I don't think the Cubs will miss Moffett. In 17 relief appearances combined between the Cubs' Arizona Complex League team and Low-A Myrtle Beach, Moffett walked 42 batters in 22.1 innings and no, that is not a typo, that's a 34.1 percent walk rate, which is just awful.
Civale, meanwhile, turned into an impressive reliever for the Cubs. In 18 appearances covering 36.2 innings, he posted a 1.77 ERA and 1.064 WHIP, allowing just two home runs and striking out 33. He posted his first save of 2026 July 30 against the Cardinals, striking out Lars Nootbaar to end the game. Just look at this nasty curveball! [VIDEO]
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This hints that maybe, just maybe, late-career Civale (he turns 32 in June) could be a useful relief piece in 2027. Now, relievers are fungible, as we all know, but over 24 career relief appearances (52 innings) Civale has a 2.52 ERA and 1.019 WHIP and 51 strikeouts and only 13 walks.
Keep that up and that's a really good setup type guy.
If I were the Cubs I'd offer him a one-year deal at $4 million with a $6 million team option for 2028 and a $1 million buyout, to be a bullpen piece.
Who says no?
