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

[bm1090]

Yeah at this point I’d be surprised if he’s not on the roster 

[adambr2]

3 hours ago, RobDeer 45 said:

Are we worried about experimenting in the playoffs?  I think May has done well.  

[brewerfan82]

I'm putting Woody on the roster just to get the pinch hit homerun when we need it.

[owbc]

I refuse to believe we're gonna let Woodruff throw 89 mph fastballs in the World Series. We can't waste a roster spot like that. If it turns out that he's throwing 93 then maybe, but otherwise it's a nice story and he can sit on the taxi squad in case there is an injury. 

[Underachiever]

14 minutes ago, brewerfan82 said:

I'm putting Woody on the roster just to get the pinch hit homerun when we need it.

Bench power bats: Woodruff from the right side, Hamilton from the left. Formidable 

[Dragonbait]

The practical side of me says no.

 

The emotional side wants it to happen.

[bm1090]

37 minutes ago, owbc said:

I refuse to believe we're gonna let Woodruff throw 89 mph fastballs in the World Series. We can't waste a roster spot like that. If it turns out that he's throwing 93 then maybe, but otherwise it's a nice story and he can sit on the taxi squad in case there is an injury. 

We have two guys on the roster that haven't faced a batter and another who threw one inning. Zero harm throwing Woody into the Harrison role. Plus he's been effective the last two years throwing 90.

 

[Ignitor 4ever]

1 hour ago, Underachiever said:

Bench power bats: Woodruff from the right side, Hamilton from the left. Formidable 

Woodruff from the right? You may want to re-watch the homerun he hit off of Kershaw.

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

Brewers up 3-0 in the series and 8-0 in Game 4. It's the 9th inning. Woodruff comes in and immediately gives up to singles and a home run. Murphy comes out to the mound. Big Woo tells him to hobble his butt back to the dugout, then proceeds to K three guys in a row. Brewers win the World Series. Woodruff retires. 

Let's goooooo!

[StearnsFTW]

What a ridiculous notion.

[adambr2]

2 hours ago, StearnsFTW said:

What a ridiculous notion.

A ridiculous notion that the pitcher who has basically been the pitching version of Yelich in Milwaukee the last 10 years, put up a 2.98 ERA before being injured this year and a 3.20 ERA last year, deserves a single spot over either two guys we didn’t trust to throw a pitch in either the NLDS or NLCS, or a guy who sucked in the regular season after we acquired him, sucked in the NLDS and sucked in the NLCS?

Nah, not ridiculous at all. 

I could understand calling it ridiculous if this were clearly some kind of last season of his career Jordan Zimmerman charity case, but you can easily rationalize trusting Woodruff to throw an inning or two over at least one of May, Harrison or Patrick.

And if something goes wrong and he’s clearly still injured, you can pull him immediately and replace him on the roster the next day.

[torts]

5 hours ago, adambr2 said:

A ridiculous notion that the pitcher who has basically been the pitching version of Yelich in Milwaukee the last 10 years, put up a 2.98 ERA before being injured this year and a 3.20 ERA last year, deserves a single spot over either two guys we didn’t trust to throw a pitch in either the NLDS or NLCS, or a guy who sucked in the regular season after we acquired him, sucked in the NLDS and sucked in the NLCS?

Nah, not ridiculous at all. 

I could understand calling it ridiculous if this were clearly some kind of last season of his career Jordan Zimmerman charity case, but you can easily rationalize trusting Woodruff to throw an inning or two over at least one of May, Harrison or Patrick.

And if something goes wrong and he’s clearly still injured, you can pull him immediately and replace him on the roster the next day.

[MrTPlush]

Just to note:

An injury replacement in the postseason has to be approved by the commissioners office and has to be a new non chronic injury. You have to prove they weren’t injured prior and have documentation of the injury that happened in the postseason.
 

If we put a questionably injured Woody on the roster and he ends up injured, we are not assured the right to replace him.

I don’t really know the history of injury replacements, especially in the WS as the biggest ‘loss’ is you can’t have them for the rest of the postseason (not relevant at that point anymore).

[TURBO]

I know the people posting about Woody's bat are probably (hopefully) just kidding.

When is the last time he swung a bat in a meaningful situation?  4 years ago?

Like I said, I hope people are just having fun, but since he's tried so hard to make it back to the mound, I doubt swinging a bat has even occurred to him.

Along with that, I think it is more than risky to consider putting him on the roster.

He would be a feel good story, absolutely no doubt, but I just think it is way to risky to think he could come in and pitch any meaningful innings.

I'd love to be wrong, and I'd be rooting for him just as hard as the next guy, but it just isn't realistic imo.

*waiting for the announcement that he is in fact on the roster, since I posted this*

[pitchleague]

The good thing is that the Brewers have 5 1/2 days to figure this out.  He'll have some live BP to throw and that will tell them a lot.  The hitters will pass on the fact that either he is looking nasty or they're smashing the ball all over the place.

I'm all for putting him on the roster if he passes the muster with the coaching staff.  Sorry to say, but they have earned my trust that they know what the heck they're doing; better than ANYONE here on this fan site.

[AKCheesehead]

Exactly. I don’t know if he’ll be physically ready but if he is and staff like what they see then I feel pretty good about him contributing in the WS. He has great mental makeup and knows how to pitch, even without the big fastball. 

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

To make the roster, Woodruff has to be more trustworthy than Kyle Harrison. I think he will be. 

That's not even to knock Harrison. I just think he needs an off-season to get right. I still have hopes for him as a good SP for 2027.

[thebruce44]

16 hours ago, MrTPlush said:

Just to note:

An injury replacement in the postseason has to be approved by the commissioners office and has to be a new non chronic injury. You have to prove they weren’t injured prior and have documentation of the injury that happened in the postseason.
 

If we put a questionably injured Woody on the roster and he ends up injured, we are not assured the right to replace him.

I don’t really know the history of injury replacements, especially in the WS as the biggest ‘loss’ is you can’t have them for the rest of the postseason (not relevant at that point anymore).

This seems like a lot of speculation. I'm sure the team would do their homework and work with the league to cover all posibilities.

[BruisedCrew]

8 hours ago, Cool Hand Lucroy said:

To make the roster, Woodruff has to be more trustworthy than Kyle Harrison. I think he will be. 

That's not even to knock Harrison. I just think he needs an off-season to get right. I still have hopes for him as a good SP for 2027.

It’s one thing to be trustworthy for an inning, but I think they want at least one pitcher on the roster who is physically capable of throwing four or five innings in the event of an extra inning game. That pitcher or pitchers will not be in the normal relief rotation.

Patrick or Harrison would seem to be better equipped for that role than Woodruff. 

They might also decide to add an extra position player. 

[MrTPlush]

7 hours ago, thebruce44 said:

This seems like a lot of speculation. I'm sure the team would do their homework and work with the league to cover all posibilities.

It’s not speculation, that is the rule.

And my comment was after someone said “If he is still injured.” That kinda infers a pre existing issue you decided to add him to the roster for anyway. 

[young guns]

My vision for woody is the chet Steadman route.  Blow out his arm on the final pitch in the 9th inning up by 1 with a runner on third.  Batter hits a nibbler back to the mound woody wins a foot race to home plate to tag out the runner winning the series.  Retires a hero, champion, and legend.

[BruisedCrew]

If they are going to have Woodruff on the roster, I would think it would be to serve as an opener.
 

That way he could warm up and prepare knowing when he was going to take the mound. I don’t think you would want to have him getting up and down, warming up and then throw him into the game. 

[Dragonbait]

I think it could also be a morale boost to the team to have Woody pitch. Am extra rallying point. 

[BrewerFan]

1 hour ago, Dragonbait said:

I think it could also be a morale boost to the team to have Woody pitch. Am extra rallying point. 

They're in the World Series... Woody is with the team. I really wouldn't think this team would need an extra rallying point!

Also, putting him in the roster over May or Harrison... especially Harrison with these two left handed heavy rosters, two teams that hit RHPing better than lefties, that could burn you. 

I liked Harrison, he got his FB back. May's looked fine in shorter outings. 

Throwing Woody would be a pretty big risk at this point. We're kinda assuming the series is going to be as relatively stress free as the first two rounds. And if we do have a game that goes 13, 14... I mean, Woody has thrown 31 pitches out of the pen and only ONE time has he thrown anything other than his Fastball. 

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

15 hours ago, BruisedCrew said:

It’s one thing to be trustworthy for an inning, but I think they want at least one pitcher on the roster who is physically capable of throwing four or five innings in the event of an extra inning game. That pitcher or pitchers will not be in the normal relief rotation.

Patrick or Harrison would seem to be better equipped for that role than Woodruff. 

They might also decide to add an extra position player. 

Fair point, but I think the Brewers are well-covered for that scenario.

Patrick didn't pitch in either playoff series. May threw like 2-3 innings in each. Harrison didn't pitch. Drohan threw 1. Senzatela can give you length too. He didn't look great against the Padres and didn't pitch against the Dodgers at all.

The only real argument for Harrison is that he's a lefty capable of throwing 5 innings in one outing. But I just don't think anyone is going to let him do that. Even in an extra inning game, I think he'd be after all our leverage guys (we might not use both Hall and Ashby in a game), plus Romero, Patrick, Drohan, and Senzatela. Plus, depending on where you are in the series, you could use Gasser in that role.

I just don't think anyone trusts Harrison at all, anywhere near a leverage scenario. He's there to eat an inning or two in a blowout scenario. That's something Woody can do, and probably do better.

I don't have access to the bullpens or the pitch data, but I'll say this:

In a situation where it's Patrick, May, Harrison, and Woodruff for 2-3 spots (depending on if we go with an extra position player), I think Harrison would be fourth on my list.