The Milwaukee Brewers made the tough decision to non-tender Brandon Woodruff prior to Friday’s deadline. Reports surfaced that the team was looking to trade him and receive something in return, but ultimately no deal was made. Now for the first time in his career the 30-year-old is a free agent.
Prior to being non-tendered, Woodruff’s 2024 projected arbitration salary was over $11M. He also is recovering from shoulder surgery and potentially may not pitch in 2024. Between entering his final year of team control, his current health status and being in a small-market organization like Milwaukee, the decision was made to make him a free agent.
According to Ken Rosenthal, senior writer at The Athletic, Woodruff’s agent Bo McKinnis has been receiving multiple inquiries about a deal for the currently injured pitcher. Rosenthal says that he almost certainly will receive two-year offers.
McKinnis had a very positive outlook regarding Woodruff. This includes his recovery from surgery, the free-agent market and his ability to return to pitching at a high level:
"The outlook on him is outstanding. From everything that Dr. Meister told us, he’s expecting a full recovery."
Rosenthal did not indicate which teams were interested in Woodruff, but he did say that two-year offers are likely to come from more high-revenue teams. He compared a potential deal similar to, but perhaps slightly less than, what Tyler Glasnow got coming off of a Tommy John surgery in which he received a two year, $30.35M contract.
Reasons in which Woodruff may receive slightly less than Glasnow’s $30.35M deal is the fact that pitchers recovering from shoulder surgery to address the capsule are less predictable. In the past pitchers have returned six months after surgery, as late as 18 months, and return to elite-level performance is variable.
It will be interesting to see what happens with Woodruff over the next few months.
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