*Photo from Bleacher Nation*
A return was always possible, and now it's a reality. The Milwaukee Brewers and RHP Brandon Woodruff have agreed to a two year, $17.5 million contract, according to Jon Heyman of MLB Network. The team has confirmed.
Woodruff will miss most if not all of the 2024 season after undergoing surgery on his shoulder, though it was not Tommy John Surgery. He gets a full no trade clause in the contract along with a $20 million mutual option for 2026 with a $10 million buyout. He'll make $2.5 million in 2024 and $5 million in 2025.
At the start of the offseason, the Brewers decided to non-tender Woodruff after he missed the Brewers wild card round series due to a shoulder injury that ended up requiring surgery. The Brewers had always left the door open for a return, and now he's back in the fold despite the injury.
Woodruff said of returning that "The way things shook out for me, it made me realize that I wasn't supposed to go out the way I was supposed to go out with the Brewers, getting hurt, not being able to pitch, then getting non-tendered. Now that I'm signed back, it kind of just hit me like, man, this is where I'm supposed to be, whether it's two more years or whatever it looks like. I've still got a lot of, I guess you could say unfinished business in the Brewers’ uniform. And that's the way I feel about it."
Last season, Woodruff was limited by injury, missing 4 months due to a right shoulder strain. He posted a 2.28 ERA, 3.60 FIP, and 0.82 WHIP when healthy, throwing one complete game shutout in 67 innings, making 11 starts for the Brewers.
Woodruff has spent his entire career with the Brewers after being an 11th round draft pick in 2014. He has a 3.10 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, and 3.19 FIP to his name, throwing two complete games and one shutout in 115 starts and 15 relief appearances over 680 1/3 innings pitched.
In his 7 major league seasons with the Brewers, Woodruff has pitched in the postseason in 4 different years even though he didn't in 2023. He has a 3.18 ERA and 0.85 WHIP in the playoffs, striking out 40 hitters over 4 starts, 4 relief appearances, and 28 1/3 innings.
Milwaukee GM Matt Arnold said of re-signing Woodruff that "We had to do things sometimes that are painful in the past couple months, and one of those was non-tendering Brandon Woodruff. As we worked through our process here and continued to stay in touch with him, we just felt like bringing him back was the right thing to do for the franchise and for one of the best players in the franchise’s history. He's just such a special person. He and his family are tremendous, and whenever he's ready to pitch, I couldn't be more excited just to have him in our dugout and on our side just impacting people."
The Brewers have had a busy offseason, trading Corbin Burnes while adding DL Hall, Rhys Hoskins, Gary Sanchez, Joey Ortiz, Eric Haase, Jake Bauers, and Jakob Junis as they retool their roster.
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