The Brewers announced that they have recalled left-hander Brian Fitzpatrick and right-hander Craig Yoho from Triple-A Nashville. In corresponding moves, lefty DL Hall has been placed on the 15-day injured list with a left pectoral strain and righty Jake Woodford has been designated for assignment.
Woodford, 29, signed a minor league deal with the Rays in the offseason. He triggered an upward mobility clause in that deal and got flipped to the Brewers just before Opening Day. The righty has been working a long relief role for Milwaukee since then. He has thrown 23 1/3 innings over 16 appearances, allowing 6.94 earned runs per nine. That probably exaggerates how bad he has pitched this year. His .378 batting average on balls in play and 62.5% strand rate are both unlucky figures. His 3.96 FIP and 3.92 SIERA suggest he has deserved far better.
The Brewers got beat up a bit yesterday, in a few ways. They lost 12-9 to the Giants, with both Hall and Grant Anderson departing due to injury. As mentioned, Hall is now on the IL due to his pec injury. Woodford tossed the final three frames, allowing four earned runs, throwing 56 pitches in the process.
Milwaukee plays three games at Coors Field against the Rockies tonight, followed by three games against the Athletics at Sutter Health Park. Those are two of the most hitter-friendly venues in the league. Rather than go into that stretch with a banged-up Hall and a gassed Woodford, they have decided to bring some fresh arms onto the roster. Since Woodford is out of options, he needed to be removed from the 40-man entirely.
He now heads into DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Brewers could take as long as five days to see if there’s trade interest, but they could also put him on waivers sooner than that. Players with at least three years of service time or a previous career outright have the right to reject outright assignments and elect free agency. Woodford qualifies on both counts and could opt for the open market if he clears waivers again.
In his career, he has generally been around the strike zone and induced ground balls but without missing a ton of bats. In 279 1/3 innings, he has a 5.25 ERA, 15.2% strikeout rate, 7.4% walk rate and 44.4% ground ball rate.
Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Imagn Images
