Brewers roster moves: Aaron Civale traded to White Sox, Grant Anderson recalled, Drew Avans to make Brewers debut

In what has been a busy day for the Milwaukee Brewers' front office, the team has not only parted ways with starting pitcher Aaron Civale, but they have also made a flurry of moves on the margins of their roster. With three games yet to play against the St. Louis Cardinals this weekend, the moves should better position the Brewers for success, as they are back to a full-strength bullpen and add an intriguing bat to their bench. Let's take a closer look at each of the three roster transactions that the Brewers made today.

Brewers trade Aaron Civale and cash to Chicago White Sox in exchange for 1B/DH Andrew Vaughn

Starting with the most significant move of the day: the Civale trade. This move materialized quickly, but the writing had been on the wall for sometime. With an increasingly crowded starting rotation, and a more-than-ready elite prospect in Jacob Misiorowski waiting in Triple-A, the Brewers were bound to explore a starting pitcher trade eventually. However, when that was going to be was still uncertain.

Then, chips fell into place. The team promoted Misiorowski to the big league roster, relegated Civale to the bullpen, and the latter subsequently requested a trade so that he could continue pitching as a starter on another team. More than a month before the trade deadline, the Brewers’ hand had been forced.

Despite the entire league knowing that Milwaukee was looking to trade Civale, the Brewers still got a solid return in the deal. Andrew Vaughn has some serious upside; he's a former No. 3 overall pick with 20+ HR potential. While he won't immediately impact the big league roster, Vaughn is under contract through next season and could see time at first base for the Brewers should Rhys Hoskins leave in free agency.

It's not an overwhelming return for the Crew, who add Vaughn while he's in the midst of a down year, but acquiring a high upside change-of-scenery candidate for a pitcher who had recently requested a trade is excellent work from Matt Arnold and the rest of the Brewers' front office.

Grant Anderson recalled from Triple-A Nashville after being demoted just three days ago

Another positive development from the Civale trade is that the Brewers' bullpen will be back to full strength. Presumably, Civale would have covered innings out of the pen if he had remained with the Brewers, but those innings would have likely come in a long relief role, and that's not what the team needs at the moment. With Aaron Ashby and DL Hall expertly covering the length outings in the bullpen, the team really needed another right-handed short relief arm that could cover one or two high or low leverage innings. In other words, they needed someone with more pitching flexibility than Civale, who has only started games throughout his career.

Thankfully, the Brewers have the perfect candidate in-house: Grant Anderson. Anderson has spent nearly the entire season in a flexible bullpen role, covering as many as 2.2 innings at a time, and appearing in both close games and blowouts. Ironically, Anderson joined the Brewers on the fourth day of the season after Civale went on the IL with a hamstring strain, and up until his demotion a few days ago, he had been on the active roster ever since.

Now, without making a single appearance in Triple-A for the Nashville Sounds since his demotion, Anderson rejoins the roster and gives manager Pat Murphy another option out of the bullpen. On the season, Anderson has made 28 appearances, holds a 3.86 ERA, and has struck out more than a batter an inning. It's been an impressive turnaround for the sidearm righty who carried an 8.10 ERA in 23 appearances a season ago.

Brewers promote Drew Avans to MLB roster, place Daz Cameron on the paternity list

On Sunday, during the Brewers series finale against the San Diego Padres, the team claimed left-handed outfielder Drew Avans off waivers from the Athletics. Now, just five days later, Avans gets another shot at the big leagues while donning a Brewers uniform.

Interestingly enough, today is Avans' birthday! He turns 29 today and will be appearing with his second MLB team, the first being the Athletics, as previously mentioned. Despite his age, Avans has appeared in just seven major league games and has collected two hits — both singles.

Though he lacks big-league experience, Avans does possess one tool that makes him an exciting addition to the Brewers roster: speed. As is standard on the Brewers roster, Avans' sprint speed is north of the 90th percentile, according to Baseball Savant, and he pairs it with a strong base running ability, as evidenced by the high stolen base numbers that he has recorded throughout his minor league career.

While it might be a short stint with the Brewers for A, Cameron must return from his paternity list in three days’ time. It could be an exciting one. If Avans reaches base or is called upon to pinch run late in a game, look out, because chances are in the Brewers’ aggressive base running scheme that he'll be looking to swipe a bag.