Brandon Woodruff did not have surgery, to start throwing program.

[MrTPlush]

Probably a loooong shot to pitch this year though.

[adambr2]

Fantastic news, but yeah I think expectations should probably be in check as to any contributions this year. A 5 week progression would put things close to the end of the regular season, and even if there were no setbacks, he’d be awfully hard to trust for the playoff roster. 

I could see some sort of scenario where we need to swap out an overused arm from the NLDS and he gets on the NLCS, but this is still longshot of longshots.

Happy for him if this means he will be ready to pitch next season and can get a contract.

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

37 minutes ago, adambr2 said:

Fantastic news, but yeah I think expectations should probably be in check as to any contributions this year. A 5 week progression would put things close to the end of the regular season, and even if there were no setbacks, he’d be awfully hard to trust for the playoff roster. 

I could see some sort of scenario where we need to swap out an overused arm from the NLDS and he gets on the NLCS, but this is still longshot of longshots.

Happy for him if this means he will be ready to pitch next season and can get a contract.

Thought the same, almost to the letter.

Good for Woodruff, probably meaningless for the Brewers this year. We've been surprised before, and the playoffs are weird, but I think you hit the nail on the head in terms of "hard to trust." 

I guess we could see him on the postseason roster in that long-relief, you're down 4 or 5 runs, role. But that seems like most optimistic projection.

[Frisbee Slider]

If you swap out a Cubs hat for a Brewers hat, this is where my mind went to:

 

[markedman5]

Happy for Woody…….obviously a 2nd shoulder surgery would be very difficult to overcome………if there is any chance to recover without it he’s going to try it…….fingers crossed.

[liveforoctober]

Game 4 in LA. Brewers up 3-0 in the series. Tie game goes to extras. Yelich is mired in an 0-36 slump. Camera comes back from commercial break and slowly spans the LA crowd before coming to rest on a singular Brewers fan donning the visitor's jersey. He slowly stands to reveal '#9 Uecker' on his back. He starts flapping his arms, slowly. 

From the dugout, Murphy glances over to Yelich.

"Yeli you are hitting for Vaughn"

Yelich sends the first pitch he sees deep into the LA night giving Milwaukee the lead.

.

.

The phone rings in the bullpen. An old wily vet stands and starts loosening. From his press box, Clayton Kershaw breaks into a sweat.

15 consecutive 90 mph fastballs later the Dodgers have been eliminated and the Brewers are heading to their first World Series in over 40 years. The camera pans back to the crowd, the fan wearing #9 is gone.

After the game Woodruff reveals he has needed surgery this whole time, but held off for one final inning. His career is over.

[Frisbee Slider]

2 hours ago, liveforoctober said:

"Yeli you are hitting for Vaughn"

This makes sense because Vaughn should not face right handed pitching. 🙂

[Team Canada]

https://www.mlb.com/brewers/news/brandon-woodruff-tosses-bullpen-session-ahead-of-nlcs

Going "full bore" in bullpen sessions, WS is still a possibility...

[Dragonbait]

Worse case... he can be a pinch hitter.

[liveforoctober]

Woodruff: "It's going to be hard to keep me off that (World Series) roster".

 

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Nobody will convince he's a worse option than May.

[Frisbee Slider]

15 minutes ago, OldSchoolSnapper said:

Nobody will convince he's a worse option than May.

May is enough in the circle of trust to get appearances. That is more than Harrison and Patrick can say.

[endaround]

1 hour ago, Frisbee Slider said:

May is enough in the circle of trust to get appearances. That is more than Harrison and Patrick can say.

Patrick was almost certainly being saved for blow outs and extra innings for length. Harrison not even getting an inning to face Dodger left handers at some point is telling.

[tmwiese55]

I'll be surprised by it.  However, if as they're working out to keep fresh and he faces our hitters and they think everything is legit then I'll trust their judgment. In addition, neither opponent is as LH heavy as LAD so can easily see a LH like Harrison/Drohan going off and a righty coming on.  Watching from afar, I probably go with Anderson but if they think Woodruff can do it so be it

[MrTPlush]

I’m starting to think Woodruff may actually make the World Series roster. When you think about it, we wouldn’t really be looking to use him till Game 4. That is all the way on the 27th of October.

If anyone is going to come into the World Series after not pitching in so long with no games? Yah, it’s Brandon Woodruff.

Also, I’d assume now with this big layoff he is probably going to see simulated game action in the next week. Certainly better than plain bullpen throws.

[torts]

He's pitching 100% 

[bjkrautk]

Game 4 of the Series is likely to be a bullpen game anyway; I think the upside of Big Woo possibly giving you 3-4 innings edges out someone from the Harrison / May / Patrick / Drohan part of the roster.

[Team Canada]

On one hand, the Dodgers left handers are so good that I get not pitching Harrison against them. On the other hand, if he's not needed as a weapon against a LH heavy lineup like LA, I definitely want Woody on the roster for the WS.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

22 minutes ago, bjkrautk said:

Game 4 of the Series is likely to be a bullpen game anyway; I think the upside of Big Woo possibly giving you 3-4 innings edges out someone from the Harrison / May / Patrick / Drohan part of the roster.

What a story it would be for the Brewers to win the World Series with a contribution from Woodruff. Truly the cherry on top of this season.

[torts]

50 minutes ago, bjkrautk said:

Game 4 of the Series is likely to be a bullpen game anyway; I think the upside of Big Woo possibly giving you 3-4 innings edges out someone from the Harrison / May / Patrick / Drohan part of the roster.

And even if he only gives you 1, that 1 inning will be one hell of an inning

[RobDeer 45]

1 minute ago, torts said:

And even if he only gives you 1, that 1 inning will be one hell of an inning

Are we worried about experimenting in the playoffs?  I think May has done well.  But I guess at this point Harrison is an experiment.  I think May has done a good job for the most part.  I'm nervous throwing Woody out there for the first time in such a big moment.  I love the guy but that feels risky.  He is a bulldog, so if anyone could do it, maybe it's him.  Makes me very nervous.

[Underachiever]

30 minutes ago, RobDeer 45 said:

Are we worried about experimenting in the playoffs?  I think May has done well.  But I guess at this point Harrison is an experiment.  I think May has done a good job for the most part.  I'm nervous throwing Woody out there for the first time in such a big moment.  I love the guy but that feels risky.  He is a bulldog, so if anyone could do it, maybe it's him.  Makes me very nervous.

Of course I'm worried. But I've not seen him pitch. I can't imagine believing that Woodruff will be on the roster except for the reason that he is one of the best 13 options the Brewers have.

[torts]

1 hour ago, RobDeer 45 said:

Are we worried about experimenting in the playoffs?  I think May has done well.  But I guess at this point Harrison is an experiment.  I think May has done a good job for the most part.  I'm nervous throwing Woody out there for the first time in such a big moment.  I love the guy but that feels risky.  He is a bulldog, so if anyone could do it, maybe it's him.  Makes me very nervous.

It's not an experiment with woody, he's got almost 30 innings of post season experience, that's more than Patrick or harrison have, and I'll take him and that all day every day if he's passing the tests the organization has set out for him.  

[MrTPlush]

If we are talking game 4, Kyle Harrison hasn’t pitched in a month, in a game. If Woody’s stuff looks good in practice..,I feel that isn’t almost no less of an experiment.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

1 hour ago, RobDeer 45 said:

Are we worried about experimenting in the playoffs?  I think May has done well.  But I guess at this point Harrison is an experiment.  I think May has done a good job for the most part.  I'm nervous throwing Woody out there for the first time in such a big moment.  I love the guy but that feels risky.  He is a bulldog, so if anyone could do it, maybe it's him.  Makes me very nervous.

May has 2 appearances in which he was 3 IP in each with 2 and 3 ER respectively. 7 hits, 2 walks in those 5 innings and the only HR, a very bad one, we surrendered in the NLCS. His other appearance was 1IP and nothing. I don't know how he's done well or a good job. If anything it seems like you might be lucky to get a single inning out of him, but that's it. His last 2 regular seaosn appearances were almost exact replicas of what he did in his two poor playoff outings. The dude is just fried.