TODAY: Skipper Craig Counsell says the organization anticipates about a six-week absence, as Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel was among those to cover on Twitter. More will be known after the club learns the results of a full examination and MRi today.
YESTERDAY: The Brewers are placing Brandon Woodruff on the 10-day injured list after the right-hander suffered a left oblique injury during today’s game. (Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel was among those to report the news.) Woodruff was two pitches into the fourth inning of today’s start against Arizona when he suffered the injury, and left the game after a visit from the team trainer.
An MRI is scheduled for Monday to determine the extent of the injury, though the best-case scenario is at least a couple of weeks on the IL. Depending on the severity, many oblique injuries usually require a month or more of recovery time, so the Brewers could potentially be without arguably their best starting pitcher for much (or all) of the pennant race.
Woodruff emerged as both a starter and a multi-inning bullpen weapon for the Brewers down the stretch and into the postseason last year, and earned enough trust from Milwaukee brass to begin the season in the rotation. That decision proved to be a great one, as Woodruff ended up earning a spot on the NL All-Star team. Including today’s abbreviated outing against the D’Backs, Woodruff has posted a 3.75 ERA, 10.4 K/9 and only a 2.22 K/BB rate over 117 2/3 innings in 2019. As per Statcast numbers, he has been one of the league’s best pitchers at limiting exit velocity and hard-hit contract, holding opposing batters to a .286 xwOBA.
Woodruff has been a stabilizing force within a Brewers rotation that has generally delivered middle-of-the-pack numbers this year. Among the most frustrating parts of Woodruff’s injury was that Milwaukee’s starters were beginning to show signs of rounding into form as a whole, as Gio Gonzalez was back from an IL stint and Chase Anderson has quietly re-established himself as a solid starter after beginning the season in the bullpen. Zach Davies has also continued to pitch well in terms of bottom-line results, posting a 2.79 ERA despite some questionable advanced metrics. In terms of a short-term replacement for Woodruff, Adrian Houser is likely the top choice to pick up starts in Woodruff’s place, though a pair of upcoming off-days on the schedule means that a fifth starter likely won’t be needed until sometime next week.
Today’s news will only intensify the Brewers’ search for pitching at the trade deadline, as the team had already been linked to such names as Madison Bumgarner, Zack Wheeler, and Noah Syndergaard on the starter front, and the Giants’ Will Smith as a potential bullpen upgrade. Despite some unimpressive play in recent weeks, the Brewers are still in possession of an NL wild card berth, and are two games behind the Cubs for first place in the NL Central. GM David Stearns said earlier this week that his club was planning to be deadline buyers, though left the door to perhaps standing pat (or at least not making any major splashes) unless the Brewers started to string together some wins. Today’s win over the D’Backs gave Milwaukee five victories in its last six games.
Not good. Initial report was abdominal discomfort, hopefully he isn’t out too long.
Time to stretch out Freddie Peralta!
Harvey? Derek Holland? Willy Peralta?
wily Peralta lol
Wily Peralta hasn’t started a game since 2017, I don’t think he’s the answer.
They should trade for Wheeler
He’s also on the IL
still have the best rotations in baseball coming into the year. no need to panic
Best Rotation – Brewers?
That was sarcasm. From s cubs fan
Sorry, not a Cubs fan. I’m an Indians fan.
But Cubs are leading the Division? Maybe pickup 1B and Bullpen piece?
Lolwut?
No way anyone thought they had the best rotation in baseball. Do they even have an actual ace? Sure Woodruff and Davies can maybe be a 1 or a good 2, but they are not aces
He’s being a troll
I personally thought they had the best rotation coming in… right up there with the Orioles
This can’t be a serious comment. Going into the season, their ace was Chacin, who is a perennial #3 or #4 on most other teams, and he has a 5+ ERA right now.
Dude, you almost had me!
Woodruff was the ace…dude is good. Davies has been lucky..none of the peripheral metrics/stats back up his ERA. After that it’s league average guys or worse. We weren’t supposed to be good last year, so regression was inevitable
Bring up Trey Supac! 10-4 with a 2 era. Spot starts til woodruff comes back or Zach brown who hasn’t been great this year but neither was Hader before his call up that year.
Don’t know where you got the 2.22 K/BB rate from. It’s like 4.9.
Yeah, he meant 2.22 BB/9
I like to support the Brewers because they have two former Royals And I want them to kick the Cubs off the NL Central throne. Poor Brewers just can’t get a break this year
Those breaks were all caught last year, hence the record. This year really is what they really should’ve been all along.
I’m talking in terms of injuries.
laswagn
With one of the worst starting pitching in the majors and they are ONLY two games behind the very overrated Cubs. And the Cubs haven’t yet had a 1-9 stretch that most teams get in a season.
But hey, like the MLB found out last year, the Cubs will not doubt whine and whine and whine about playing 15-20 games in a row again…..like every other team does btw.
Brewers and Cards haven’t had a 1-9 stretch either, so I don’t know where you were going with that random inaccurate assessment.
The Cubs, Cards, and Brewers all struggled at an almost identical pace before the All-Star break, and the Cubs had their alleged “1-9 stretch” at the start of the year with a terrible start. The Cubs are historically a very hot 2nd half team under Maddon.
Very hot team historically under Maddon in the second half? You mean how they were hot in September when they blew a 5 game least last year?
The Cubs did play at a 90 win pace in Sept. but good on the Brewers for playing at a .740 clip.
Your franchise is about to be 0-51 and you cherry pick the pixie dust six-week period.? That’s so Milwaukee.
Better than being “so Chicago” which is just getting murdered.
Also, 2040, with your (hilariously idiotic) logic, let’s cherry pick another 6-week period from the Cubs’ history. October 2016. Small sample size. Might as well have never happened. 111 year drought is on! Maddon is terrible! See how that works?
But it did happen. Get over it.
You mean just like the cubs blowing a 5 game lead with 25 games left happened? You clearly didn’t read Twentyforty’s “pixie dust” 6 weeks comment. I would probably pass out from shock if he came up with new material. At least heard that 100 times.
Exactly my point, schwarbysmom. And I’m way over it.
Brewers should trade for a GM that’s not afraid to make a big decision, Stearns isn’t that guy !!
Maybe if Yelich can hit 85 homers you’ll finish in 3rd
You’re kidding right? Stearns turned the Brewers around in two years and has made two of the best trades in mlb in the last 3 years (Yelich and Shaw). You can’t fault a guy for not dealing Hiura (who could be ROY in the NL) for pitching and hoping to get production from 2 highly touted prospects (Peralta and Burnes). The Brewers also have limited payroll compared to other teams and can’t invest 100M+ in a SP every other winter.
Roy is a two man race, Alonso and Tatis.
You’re probably right, mostly because they both started the year in MLB. If Hiura had 300 PA at this point it may be closer than you’d think.
Years not over anyway. Anything could happen but my money is on one of them.
Travis Shaw is in AAA right now, so I don’t know how you can consider him among the best trades in MLB the last three years.
Over 30 HR the last two years and was a key part to last years teams which was a game from the WS… have to look at the whole not just right now
For Shaw and Dubon they traded a player who accumulated negative for the Sox
Trade was for Tyler Thornburg, who hasn’t pitched an inning since. Shaw’s production prior to this year was top 10 for 2nd/3rd baseman in NL.
And what’s Shaw’s production this year?
Thats not the point…
And where’s Thornburg?
Think of it as Shaw had “two years of control”. If a player leaves after the second year but was highly productive in the two years with the team, that doesn’t mean the trade was a failure.
leaving is one thing, this year Shaw has been a big negative. I mean… he’s flat out hurt the team.
dudes sitting on his couch waiting for the phone to ring.
Thoracic Outlet Syndrome. Very difficult to come back from
Never said the trade was a failure. But i wouldn’t call it “great” either. It was a solid move for your previous 2 years. But it’s the question “what have you done lately”
1/3 of a bad season doesnt equal 2 good seasons… also his failure this year lead to the call up of Hiura. Not exactly detrimental to the team
Hiura is a stud no doubt
That Milwaukee farm system is pretty think. Going to be tricky for the GM to get pitching help
Whoops. Meant “thin”. Ha
You know what one-game from the WS series means in Milwaukee? The same as each of the other 50 years….
Typical Cubs fan. 1 title in the 3 major sports (cubs, bears and Bulls) In 20 years and you act like that’s something to be proud of.
So you’re a solid 1 for 60 seasons at winning titles. Have to love those odds.
better than going 0-fer
I’d like to see where the Cubs would be in the standings if they operated with the same payroll as Milwaukee.
BarrelMan
Last place and out of the playoff race already.
The core of their team is extremely cheap. The only “expensive” players on their roster are Heyward, Lester, and Darvish…and now Kimbrel. Those guys aren’t the difference between first and last place.
And Hamels(20M), Zobrist(12.5M), Rizzo(12.3M), Bryant(13M). The Cubs currently have 90M more in payroll than the Brewers. Please look at facts before posting.
With just Lester, Heyward, Darvish, Kimbrel and Hamels they total $92M alone. That’s nearly the Brewers entire teams salary. The cubs can afford to throw 20+M at multiple players. The Brewers can’t
Hamels at $20M
Bryant at $13M ain’t cheap.
Chatwood and Zobrist combine for $25M
Rizzo is over $12M
Dumbest argument of all time. It’s like saying I’d like to see how many HRs the Cubs would hit playing 81 games in the little league park in Milwaukee. Neither are possible so find another excuse.
You do realize the Brewers have to pitch in this “little league park” its not like they get to hit at Miller Park and the away team has to hit somewhere else. That argument has no logic when talking about team success
Also that excuse was to defend the “aggressiveness” of Stearns, not team success
So apparently when the wind is blowing out at Wrigley 30+ home games a year it doesn’t play like a men’s slow pitch softball park.
Men’s age 50 and over slow-pitch softball park.
I looked at His Game Logs. They’re some 10 Strikeout Performances there. . . Was he Ran into the Ground. ???
I know it’s off topic, but I just wanted to throw out Yelich’s past 365 day stats which read like Jimmie Foxx in the early 1930’s (if he had good wheels)…
.345 avg. 132 Runs 202 hits 59 HR 139 RBI 32 SB 4 CS 91 BB
OK Stern let’s get this done. Go get Zack Grienke and money with a lower prospect for Wilkerson , Thames, Shaw and Derby. then turn around and go for Caleb Smith, along with Garrett Cooper for Erceg, Dubon, Oszlack, Aguilar and Ponce.
Sorry stubby, but neither of these trades would happen. Diamondbacks wouldn’t have the 40 man roster space nor the need for Wilkerson, or Derby. Maybe Shaw and Supak for Greinke and cash. Erceg, and Dubon dont net Caleb Smith either
So do you sit everyday waiting to try and cut down on my ideas. They may not be perfect but it’s a starting point. Which they can be tweaked. The Brewers are going to have to make some minor trades because there will be some rule 5 eligable players to be moved so we dont loose them in the draft. I’m sure if Dubon and Erceg arent needed we still have Henry, Turang, Ashby or Zavolhous that could be a very good combo of some sort. Stern has done a very good job . We arent sitting that bad at all.
No need to get defensive, I have agreed with your posts in the past, just not this one. I did tweak your first idea, and never disagreed with your idea to get Grienke, I think thats a great SP to go after. Look at my other posts on this thread, I am defending Stearns, I think he’s a great GM.
Ok my bad your right I was being too defensive but yes thank you for bring up the 40 man room thing. I dont know if our bullpen isnt as bad of shape as others think because of the possibility return later of Wahl and Suter
You have no idea how weak the Brewers minor leagues really are. Those guys you mention wouldn’t net a middle reliever.
Is Wahl able to return this year? Dont know the time table on ACl tears for pitchers. I liked our bullpen pre Woodruff injury with Hader, Houser, Jeffress and Peralta, but now I think they will move Houser back to the rotation. I think a reunion with Grienke would be perfect, jist unsure of the cost and how much money the dbacks would eat. I would be ok with Shaw, Supak and an A ball player like Lazar for Grienke and 30M
The Missions have the best record in the PCL and Shuckers have the second best record in the Southern. Also, just last year one of those “terrible prospects” did net a middle-reliever in Soria. Not saying minor-league records tell the whole story but its not like their prospects are performing terrible. Plus you act line the Cubs have any ground to stand on when talking about prospect depth
Plus there is a fine line between the stats and the ranking of these players. Davis, Holland and Smith never were rank prospects
Do you even watch baseball or are you too busy sniffing that pixie dust you can’t stop mentioning? Turang would easily net a middle reliever.
Trent Grisham and Alec Bettinger and maybe one more for MadBum
Your number 30 prospect (in a weak system), an unranked guy, and “maybe one more”. Cute. Very cute. But the giants wouldn’t even hang up the phone, they’d be too busy rolling on the floor laughing.
Stop relying on prospect rankings that came out in February. Grisham is a former 1st Rd pick that is mashing the ball this year and is near MLB ready. Did you even look at his stats? .284/.561/.951 with 23 HR and a 1.15 K/BB between AA and AAA. Also Bettinger is having a fine season himself in AA. This is why teams send scouts to minor league games and don’t just go to MLB.com to do their scouting work.
Thank you for that point. People can get caught up in the numbers too much at times. There has to be the right balance between the eye and Analytics.
Everyone acting like their prospects are so valuable is getting so annoying. One thing is not doing stupid moves another is giving yourself a chance to improve.
First you have teams like Boston. Your farm is weak and you have a good product on the field. I understand not trading valuable pieces they might need next year or so. When your farm is weak and your best prospects are blocked. What the heck are you waiting for? Trade the reaming pieces of your farm. You have a good team. Give them a chance..Other teams in similar ground are St Louis and Milwaukee. Making a weak farm weaker when you’re contending is ok. Making a weak farm weaker when you’re not contending, that’s bad, Big, Huge difference between the two.
Then there’s teams like the Braves and Rays. They rather enjoy their prospects and a first round exit, We should create a wrestling championship belt for these teams and fans.
Teams like the Astros really don’t have to do moves and if they did one it won’t impact the farm much.
I know my words are equal to piss and fart, but it’s so annoying. I wish Baseball writers wrote about this and blast those teams who are happy not improving. It really isn’t much different than teams like Detroit and Miami who love to tank. The moment something goes wrong they are on tank.mode.