Woodruff Presents Orioles With Significant Opportunity

The release of Milwaukee starter Brandon Woodruff makes the right-hander a free agent.

The Baltimore Orioles are interested in taking the next step toward the World Series. But there’s nothing wrong with looking toward the future, especially when there is some upside to doing so.

There is now a two-time All-Star starter on the free-agent market, one that most weren’t expecting to be there after Friday’s non-tender deadline.

The Milwaukee Brewers’ decision to non-tender pitcher Brandon Woodruff puts the right-hander on the market.

That’s a significant opportunity for a team like Baltimore, or any MLB team looking for quality starting pitching.

In seven seasons with Milwaukee he went 46-26 with a 3.10 ERA. He has 788 career strikeouts and 176 career walks. He struck out 10.4 hitters per nine innings and walked just 2.3 per innings.

His best season was 2022, during which he went 13-4 with a 3.05 ERA. He was an All-Star in the 2019 and 2021 seasons.

In 2021, he finished fifth in Cy Young voting despite a 9-10 record. He had a 2.56 ERA.

There is one problem for Baltimore — there is a reason why he’s a free agent.

He’s hurt, and there’s no guarantee he’ll be ready to pitch in 2024.

Woodruff pitched just nine starts in 2023 as he dealt with shoulder issues. When he pitched, he was sharp, with a 2.59 ERA. But the shoulder issue forced the Brewers to shut him down just before the playoffs.

After the season, he underwent surgery to repair the anterior capsule in his throwing shoulder. It’s likely he will miss a good portion of 2024, if not all of it.

Woodruff was entering his final year of salary arbitration, where he could have made $11 million. He will become a free agent after the 2024 season.

The Brewers could have tendered Woodruff. They could have gotten him into a team-friendly extension. They even, reportedly, talked with other teams about trading Woodruff, per MLB.com. But those talks went nowhere.

So, now Woodruff is out there for the taking.

The Orioles would have to live with the idea that he probably won’t pitch for at least part of 2024. The good news is the Orioles have good, young rotation options like Dean Kremer, Kyle Bradish, Grayson Rodriguez and Tyler Wells. They could make a splash like signing Philadelphia’s Aaron Nola or trading for Woodruff’s former teammate, Corbin Burnes.

None of that would keep them from locking in Woodruff with a two-year deal that comes with options and incentives that allow for protection for both sides.

Given his track record, it’s a forward-thinking move that would give the Orioles a quality option in late 2024 and in 2025, when their window to contend is still wide open.