Milwaukee’s choice is making waves.
The Milwaukee Brewers made a shocking move on Nov. 18. They gave up the ace of their rotation. They released Brandon Woodruff on a non-tender offer.
The 1993-born right-hander is a franchise star in Milwaukee. Drafted by the Texas Rangers in the fifth round of the 2011 First-Year Player Draft, Woodruff chose to attend Mississippi State and was selected by Milwaukee in the 11th round of the 2014 First-Year Player Draft.
Despite his low selection, Woodruff steadily progressed through the minors, making his big league debut in 2017 and earning a spot on our Top 100 Prospects list. After posting a 4.81 ERA in eight starts in his rookie season, Woodruff bounced around the minors in 2018 and improved to a 3.61 ERA in 19 starts.
A full-time big league starter in 2019, Woodruff went 11-3 with a 3.62 ERA in 22 games and 121.2 innings pitched that year, earning All-Star honors, and in the shortened season, he started a league-high 13 games and posted a 3.05 ERA in 73.2 innings pitched.
Woodruff improved after the shortened season, pitching to a 2.56 ERA in 30 games and 179.1 innings in 2021, earning his second career All-Star selection and finishing fifth in National League Cy Young Award voting. In his seven years in Milwaukee, Woodruff has pitched 130 games and 680.1 innings in his career, going 46-26 with a 3.10 ERA. Relying on a fastball that averages over 95 miles per hour, Woodruff strikes out more than 10 batters per nine innings while allowing just over two walks per nine innings. He’s an ace with a fastball, great strikeout ability, and no particular issues with his velocity.
Milwaukee’s reasons for releasing such an outstanding pitcher are ‘injury’ and ‘service time’. Of course, the underlying reason is money, but it’s a combination of injury and service time.
Woodruff underwent anterior capsule surgery on his right shoulder last month. It’s unclear if he’ll be back for the 2024 season, and he’s eligible for free agency after the 2024 season. Milwaukee decided, “Let’s save the 2024 salary for a player who’s going to be a free agent and rehabilitate him.
This is something that Milwaukee has always been known for. As a small-market team, Milwaukee is notorious for not signing big extensions. The team’s philosophy is to give service time players a “salary dump”. Last winter, the Brewers went through a salary arbitration process with another ace, Corbin Burns, for just $740,000, and they won. 토토사이트
As a result, Burns publicly expressed his dissatisfaction with the organization, and insider revelations revealed that Milwaukee had a long-standing tactic of manipulating players during contract negotiations to get a better deal. It was Milwaukee’s attitude toward Burns, who outperformed Woodruff, that led to his non-tender release.
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