Brandon Woodruff Accepts Qualifying Offer -- Answering One Question, But Raising Others

[Jack Stern]

Image courtesy of © Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

Brandon Woodruff will continue his tenure with the club into 2026, as Ken Rosenthal reported on Tuesday afternoon that the Brewers' former ace is accepting Milwaukee's qualifying offer.

Woodruff's future with the Brewers was a major offseason storyline, for a few reasons. For starters, his injury woes over the past three seasons made it difficult to confidently project his value on the open market. The 32-year-old has taken the mound just 23 times over the last three years, pitching just 131 ⅔ innings. He made his return from shoulder surgery this year, but a right lat strain ended his season in September after 12 starts.

Both Woodruff and the Brewers said his shoulder remained fully healthy, though, and they extended him a $22.025-million qualifying offer, an unprecedented salary commitment to a pitcher for the franchise. Some outlets projected he would land a three-year deal north of $60 million in free agency. He'll instead take the short-term route, with Rosenthal also noting that the two sides could still agree to a new multi-year contract with a lesser annual value.

Woodruff's return brings some clarity to his short-term future, but it also raises new questions—the first being what he'll contribute on the field. He predictably lost three ticks of fastball velocity this year, but his pitch shapes and strong command remained intact, and he added a cutter during his rehab. That allowed his stuff to play just as well as it did in his prime, culminating in a 3.20 ERA, 2.18 xERA, and 81 DRA-.

It's difficult to imagine the Brewers committing more than $20 million to their former ace if they did not expect additional velocity and durability from a fully healthy shoulder in 2026. Even so, it's an uncharacteristic gamble for a front office that usually prefers to maintain financial flexibility with more measured investments.

That leads into the second question: how the Brewers will construct the rest of their pitching staff with Woodruff back in the fold. Cot's Contracts now projects their 2026 luxury tax payroll to exceed $130 million. Woodruff's presence in the clubhouse and on the books could make trading Freddy Peralta more palatable, especially with Logan Henderson, Robert Gasser, Tobias Myers, and Coleman Crow on the 40-man roster as capable rotation options.

Plenty of moving parts remain throughout the pitching mix, both on and off the field. Some answers will become clearer in the coming weeks, while others will not until next summer. The only certainty, for now, is that Woodruff is still a Brewer.

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[Sugarrayray]

It is a big outlay but since it’s only for a year, maybe Mark was willing to spend it due to it being a special franchise icon, extremely short term, and getting some extra playoff revenue. In fact, I could see Mark subtly bragging about said expenditure during Brewers On Deck or something.

[CA John]

Paid $20M for Grandal. $18M for Hoskins. $10M for Moose 2x. Brewers pay, they don’t like risk of long contracts. Will keep Peralta, $8M is cheap.
Let’s see if they sign Jordan Montgomery to one-year prove it. That would be a hell of a top 3. Move Turang to SS, Durbin to 2B. Sign 3B w some power.

[Joseph Zarr]

Any season ahead with a Big Woo pitching in a Brewers uniform is a beautiful thing. From a strictly all-time Brewers player and person, regardless of what becomes of the contract (ie a straight one off as is or a re-worked multi-year lower AV scenario), this is awesome news.

I'm going to enjoy the heck out of this mews over a cold One after a long hard farm day.

[MattK]

2 hours ago, Sugarrayray said:

It is a big outlay but since it’s only for a year, maybe Mark was willing to spend it due to it being a special franchise icon, extremely short term, and getting some extra playoff revenue. In fact, I could see Mark subtly bragging about said expenditure during Brewers On Deck or something.

Pushing "all in", or as much as Attanasio would, with the lockout coming to save some $$ next year? 

[Sugarrayray]

3 hours ago, MattK said:

Pushing "all in", or as much as Attanasio would, with the lockout coming to save some $$ next year? 

Huh I didn’t even think about that!

[jay87shot]

1) Any chance we could extend Woody or is that to risky? 

We owe him 32 million this year, I know the team kind of counted the 10 million buyout a last year expense but it is on the books. Could we try for like 3/60 and spread everything out and maybe defer like 10 million over 5 years.

2) Could we still trade Woody?

The Blue Jay's traded a borderline top 100 prospect (Khal Stephens) for half a year of Shane Bieber who hadn't pitched. If we could get some type of decent value I would prefer to trade Woody over Peralta. 

3) If by chance we keep both Peralta and Woody how do we deal with pitching overcrowding?

Peralta, Woody, Priester, Misi, Patrick, Henderson. Gasser, Myers with Ashby, Hall, CaRod, Crow is crazy depth. I cant really see us keeping both vets but some arms likely need to go.

[BrewerFan]

5 hours ago, Sugarrayray said:

It is a big outlay but since it’s only for a year, maybe Mark was willing to spend it due to it being a special franchise icon, extremely short term, and getting some extra playoff revenue. In fact, I could see Mark subtly bragging about said expenditure during Brewers On Deck or something.

I think there's a good shot the fact that it was Brandon Woodruff the person, that... pushed it over the top.

Attanasio said he's one of his favorite not just players ever, but one of his favorite people he's interacted with. That's a fairly significant statement.

 

Aside from that, there's zero question his talent justifies it... so then you just have to decide how big of a deal the persisting shoulder injury may be.

The shoulder was healthy last year. That's the big hurdle. So now it's "just" a lat strain. They DID baby him last year... I think they did so because they had the luxury... and will again next year. 

Peralta only gets traded if he gets you a special talents. I wouldn't need 3-4 good prospects and 2 in the top 100. I'll take a pitcher or two with plus stuff who may be in HiA or even a 1st rd pick like Witherspoon from Boston, plus another guy the Brewers really like. There are a few options.

The Padres, they have the patience of a cocker spaniel, so with Dylan Cease gone, they may be willing to give up a Kruz Schoolkraft and Miguel Mendez. A potential TOR arm and Mendez has close upside.

But it's gotta be the old Godfather offer and not to clear 8M.

 

 

[Brewcrew82]

29 minutes ago, jay87shot said:

1) Any chance we could extend Woody or is that to risky? 

We owe him 32 million this year, I know the team kind of counted the 10 million buyout a last year expense but it is on the books. Could we try for like 3/60 and spread everything out and maybe defer like 10 million over 5 years.

2) Could we still trade Woody?

The Blue Jay's traded a borderline top 100 prospect (Khal Stephens) for half a year of Shane Bieber who hadn't pitched. If we could get some type of decent value I would prefer to trade Woody over Peralta. 

3) If by chance we keep both Peralta and Woody how do we deal with pitching overcrowding?

Peralta, Woody, Priester, Misi, Patrick, Henderson. Gasser, Myers with Ashby, Hall, CaRod, Crow is crazy depth. I cant really see us keeping both vets but some arms likely need to go.

Can't trade Woody until June by MLB rule. 

They may end up dealing an arm (perhaps even Peralta), but I doubt they'll be especially motivated to deal with overcrowding as they can remember the dire straits they were in at the beginning of the season. These things tend to resolve themselves, whether through injury or underperformance. 

[BrewerFan]

14 minutes ago, jay87shot said:

1) Any chance we could extend Woody or is that to risky? 

We owe him 32 million this year, I know the team kind of counted the 10 million buyout a last year expense but it is on the books. Could we try for like 3/60 and spread everything out and maybe defer like 10 million over 5 years.

2) Could we still trade Woody?

The Blue Jay's traded a borderline top 100 prospect (Khal Stephens) for half a year of Shane Bieber who hadn't pitched. If we could get some type of decent value I would prefer to trade Woody over Peralta. 

3) If by chance we keep both Peralta and Woody how do we deal with pitching overcrowding?

Peralta, Woody, Priester, Misi, Patrick, Henderson. Gasser, Myers with Ashby, Hall, CaRod, Crow is crazy depth. I cant really see us keeping both vets but some arms likely need to go.

You COULD extend him... but I wouldn't unless it's... 3/50(new money). And that's... pretty unlikely. You'd need to give him an opt out. Why take ~17M a year when you're getting 22.5 this year? 2 years and 27.5?

3/60 with maybe 10M deferred on top of that, but... I'd just play it out.

 

3-How do we deal with overcrowding? Simple. 6 Man rotation, keep them fresh. Peralta, Woodruff, Priester, Misiorowski, Patrick, Myers. 
Gasser, Henderson start in AAA. Neither has enough innings. Carlos Rodriguez shouldn't really be much of a factor at this point. Crow, also AAA. Ashby long man, Hall, same, 2-3 IP at a time. BP of Anderson, Mears, Uribe, Megill plus Ashby, Hall, Koenig. 

You're gonna have injuries or maybe Grant Anderson struggles and you can bring in Logan Henderson... who probably profiles best as a long man with a nice FB and a Change. But... then again, that's what Peralta looked like when he came up. Mostly Fastballs and a slider.

Gasser hasn't shown me why he should be ahead of the aforementioned pitchers yet. Give him a little while, earn back some service time and wait until someone has a blister or whatever. Rob Zastryzny, Yoho... I've yet to see the team that's got too many pitchers for 180 games. Even the Dodgers didn't. They had their 4 starters and then a bad BP that... we were not far away from being able to take advantage of and the Jays did.

[MattK]

7 hours ago, BrewerFan said:

You COULD extend him... but I wouldn't unless it's... 3/50(new money). And that's... pretty unlikely. You'd need to give him an opt out. Why take ~17M a year when you're getting 22.5 this year? 2 years and 27.5?

3/60 with maybe 10M deferred on top of that, but... I'd just play it out.

 

3-How do we deal with overcrowding? Simple. 6 Man rotation, keep them fresh. Peralta, Woodruff, Priester, Misiorowski, Patrick, Myers. 
Gasser, Henderson start in AAA. Neither has enough innings. Carlos Rodriguez shouldn't really be much of a factor at this point. Crow, also AAA. Ashby long man, Hall, same, 2-3 IP at a time. BP of Anderson, Mears, Uribe, Megill plus Ashby, Hall, Koenig. 

You're gonna have injuries or maybe Grant Anderson struggles and you can bring in Logan Henderson... who probably profiles best as a long man with a nice FB and a Change. But... then again, that's what Peralta looked like when he came up. Mostly Fastballs and a slider.

Gasser hasn't shown me why he should be ahead of the aforementioned pitchers yet. Give him a little while, earn back some service time and wait until someone has a blister or whatever. Rob Zastryzny, Yoho... I've yet to see the team that's got too many pitchers for 180 games. Even the Dodgers didn't. They had their 4 starters and then a bad BP that... we were not far away from being able to take advantage of and the Jays did.

2 thoughts. 

Regarding Big Woo.  It never fails to interest me how multiple times he & the front office seem to both just relax and trust each other.  He's hurt and a free agent, and it is a ways into the off season, what is he doing and where is he going, oh, he just signed a 2 year deal with the Crew.  And now they give him a huge QO - likely because they talked and knew he was going to take it ... and trusted each other.  I personally think they even know the next step with him, contact-wise.  Have just consistently been amazed by that. 

And regarding the pitching staff, it makes a lot of sense how you laid it out. 6 man rotation (or 5 1/2, with Freddy starting on a bit more regular pattern, perhaps).  Some younger guys available in AAA. Similar pen.  I do think they will cast around in March for another undervalued FA starter, and likely a AAA pen guy, just as good value options. 

They are getting to the point, with the prospect depth, that they may not be forced to chase outside the system. That is a great thing. And due to the cost of the prospects, I'm sure the FO thinks so too. 

[eddiemathews]

This doesn't affect the Peralta situation as much as the quality of any offer they'd get. He's inexpensive; if somebody blows them away before the season they would pull the trigger. If the season doesn't go well they now have two starting pitchers they could deal at the deadline (although if things don't go well it could very well be because these two are not effective or are hurt). 

In any case, this gives the Crew a chance to have a very good rotation.

[Team Canada]

I wonder if this would make them lean towards keeping Patrick in the bullpen. Obviously a good starter is way more valuable than a good reliever, but given how dominant Patrick was out of the bullpen, if they feel good about, say, Henderson or Gasser, do they stash him there for another year and then move him into the rotation after that.

Megill, Uribe, Koenig, Ashby, Patrick is a heck of an A team.

I suspect what actually happens is they will keep multiple starters in AAA and let it work itself out.

[BrewerFan]

7 hours ago, Team Canada said:

I wonder if this would make them lean towards keeping Patrick in the bullpen. Obviously a good starter is way more valuable than a good reliever, but given how dominant Patrick was out of the bullpen, if they feel good about, say, Henderson or Gasser, do they stash him there for another year and then move him into the rotation after that.

Megill, Uribe, Koenig, Ashby, Patrick is a heck of an A team.

I suspect what actually happens is they will keep multiple starters in AAA and let it work itself out.

I'd kinda like to see how Patrick does as a starter. I feel like this post-season could only have boosted his confidence. He's a bulldog, he's got good stuff. If he's back to 93-94 and a mid 4 ERA, I may be inclined to move him back to the pen. He was just such a weapon. And if you can have... as the season goes on say Henderson, Ashby, Hall and Patrick with Peralta, Priester, Woodruff, Misiorowski, Myers and Gasser, you could get through a LOT of games with 3-4 pitchers and keep the pen fresher. 

Then you have Myers/Koenig/Uribe/Megill... that's your 14. Wichrowski, Hunt, Hardin, Crow, Fitzpatrick I believe could earn consideration.

 

I like a lot of the potential Rule5 picks scouting reports, but... stashing a guy seems very difficult. Even some of these guys who had 13K per 9, threw 100+ but 5-6 BB per 9 as well. I suppose Gasser/Henderson could stay in AAA and someone you claim could get a sore arm a few times a year during one of those 18 in 18 stretches.

Jorge Quintana. Going back to probably Reece Olson. That's my biggest complaint with the Brewers. Those two trades. Still don't like either one, but... this front office does NOT give you much reason to be skeptical!

[ClosetBrewerFan]

No such thing as too much starting pitching. This past year should have taught us that. So much of our pitching can be optioned to the minors, so we can definitely manage this staff.  I fully expect that there will be injuries and the starting 5 or 6 we are counting on now will not nearly be enough. I would not be surprised if there will be a trade of a guy like Mears as he is out of options and he seems like a regression candidate.  That will open up bullpen spots for some of these starting pitching options.