Phillies Can Pounce On Woodruff in Free Agency

Milwaukee's release of Brandon Woodruff allows teams like the Phillies to roll the dice of a pitcher that could help them in the future.

With all of the focus on the Philadelphia Phillies trying to retain pitcher Aaron Nola or cultivating backup options if they can’t, the tender deadline provide the Phillies with another option — albeit one that requires a bit of patience.

Of the 63 players that were non-tendered on Friday, the most prominent new free agent became Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Brandon Woodruff.

For the Phillies, patience would be required, the sort of patience they had to exercise during Bryce Harper’s recovery from Tommy John surgery.

Woodruff made 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 he’s out there.

Nola is clearly the Phillies’ first priority. Next, if they can’t keep him, is finding a replacement that can pitch in 2024 is next.

But there are some reasons the Phillies should be interested. Philadelphia could get Woodruff on a friendly deal that’s two years in length and comes with options and incentives that help both sides. By signing him, they would get the opportunity to make him the qualifying offer when he does hit free agency.

Plus, when he’s healthy, he’s one of baseball’s best right-handers.

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.

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