MILWAUKEE -- It didn’t take long for the Brewers to fulfill veteran right-hander Aaron Civale’s request for a trade.
Civale was dealt to the White Sox on Friday for first baseman Andrew Vaughn, a 27-year-old former first-round Draft pick who has hit 77 home runs in his first 4 1/2 seasons in the big leagues but was demoted to the Minors by Chicago last month with a career-worst .532 OPS. Milwaukee assigned Vaughn to Triple-A Nashville.
The Brewers also sent cash to the White Sox to help offset the difference in salaries between Civale, who is earning $8 million this season in a contract year, and Vaughn, who is earning $5.85 million this year and has one more year of control in 2026 via arbitration.
“For him, this gives him an opportunity to start,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said of Civale. “They’ve got a big opportunity for him every five days, and that’s best for the player. We looked at it like, can we do something to help ourselves in the meantime? This might be the answer.”
Civale, who turned 30 on Thursday, was recently bumped to the Brewers' bullpen to make room for rookie righty Jacob Misiorowski, who topped 102 mph and didn’t allow any hits while pitching into the sixth inning of a dazzling Major League debut on Thursday night against the Cardinals.
Civale confirmed before that game that he wanted to remain in the Brewers rotation or be traded to another team that would use him as a starter, since all of his regular-season appearances for Cleveland, Tampa Bay and Milwaukee have been starts -- and often effective ones. Civale has a 4.06 ERA in parts of seven big league seasons, including a 3.84 ERA in 19 Brewers starts since coming to Milwaukee in a trade last July.
Vaughn is a right-handed hitter off to a slow start this season, with a .189/.218/.314 slash line in 48 games for the Sox. He has played the outfield as recently as 2022, but the Brewers are viewing him as an option at first base and designated hitter.
“I think he was excited about it,” Murphy said. “He’s not having a great early season for us so far, so hopefully he’ll get himself on track and maybe come up with us.”
Asked about positional possibilities for Vaughn, Murphy said, “We’re looking to get him on track hitting right now and then we’ll figure out a way. When he’s one of our nine hitters, we’ll figure out the rest. But he’s got to go down there and play well.”
The trade had a sentimental side effect for Misiorowski by freeing Civale’s No. 32, the uniform number that Misioroeski wore at Crowder College in Missouri and in the Brewers’ Minor League system. Misiorowski, who wore No. 33 for Thursday’s MLB debut, has made the switch to No. 32 and will wear it for his next start, which lines up during the Brewers’ upcoming series against the NL Central-leading Cubs at Wrigley Field.