The Milwaukee Brewers had a lot of interesting decisions to make regarding their roster as the 7:00 pm ET deadline approached for non-tender. One name who was on the bubble was two-time All-Star Brandon Woodruff as he is recovering from shoulder surgery and is not expected to pitch in the final season of his contract before being eligible for free agency.
Milwaukee Brewers right-hander Brandon Woodruff has been nontendered, sources tell ESPN. The two-time All-Star, who underwent shoulder surgery and is expected to miss the 2024 season, was scheduled to make around $11 million in arbitration. He will be a free agent.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) November 18, 2023
This came as a bit of a surprise as Woodruff was expected to make around $11 million in arbitration but the Milwaukee Brewers decided to save the money and let him be a free agent this offseason. The 30-year-old pitcher has shown to be a dominant starter when healthy as he is 46-26 in 130 games (115 starts) and pitches to a 3.10 ERA in 680.1 innings over the course of seven seasons.
This has not been the only non-tender move the Brew Crew has provided as they also non-tendered first baseman Rowdy Tellez earlier in the day. Brandon Woodruff pitched well this season before suffering the injury as he made 11 starts and went 5-1 with a 2.28 ERA in 67.0 innings with a 0.821 WHIP.
What teams will be interested in Brandon Woodruff?
There are going to be teams that want to have a solid pitcher in their rotation for the future and sign him to a two-year contract with the idea of letting him rehab with their doctors and medical staff. With teams needing pitching, there will be a handful of teams ready to do a deal like that.
The New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, St. Louis Cardinals and Los Angeles Dodgers immediately jump to mind. However, do not completely rule out the Brewers wanting to keep him but at far less than $11 million for 2023 while recovering from injury. Brandon Woodruff is a great pitcher but having $11 million on the Injured List for the entire season is not great when you can get rid of that a year earlier to free up for more moves.
What does the Milwaukee Brewers starting rotation look like now?
Unfortunately with Brandon Woodruff being injured and recovering from surgery that repaired the anterior capsule in his right shoulder, the Brewers are familiar with having some starting pitchers out of the rotation. Below is how Fangraphs lists the team’s 2024 rotation but obviously things can change as the offseason progresses.
- 1. Corbin Burnes
- 2. Freddy Peralta
- 3. Adrian Houser
- 4. Colin Rea
- 5. Robert Gasser
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