Headlines

  • Corbin Carroll Diagnosed With Wrist Fracture
  • Reds Designate Jeimer Candelario For Assignment
  • Hoops Rumors Has The Latest On NBA Draft, Free Agency
  • Mets Option Francisco Alvarez
  • Reds To Promote Chase Burns For MLB Debut
  • A.J. Puk Undergoes Elbow Surgery; Gabriel Moreno Diagnosed With Fractured Finger
  • Previous
  • Next
Register
Login
  • Hoops Rumors
  • Pro Football Rumors
  • Pro Hockey Rumors

MLB Trade Rumors

Remove Ads
  • Home
  • Teams
    • AL East
      • Baltimore Orioles
      • Boston Red Sox
      • New York Yankees
      • Tampa Bay Rays
      • Toronto Blue Jays
    • AL Central
      • Chicago White Sox
      • Cleveland Guardians
      • Detroit Tigers
      • Kansas City Royals
      • Minnesota Twins
    • AL West
      • Houston Astros
      • Los Angeles Angels
      • Oakland Athletics
      • Seattle Mariners
      • Texas Rangers
    • NL East
      • Atlanta Braves
      • Miami Marlins
      • New York Mets
      • Philadelphia Phillies
      • Washington Nationals
    • NL Central
      • Chicago Cubs
      • Cincinnati Reds
      • Milwaukee Brewers
      • Pittsburgh Pirates
      • St. Louis Cardinals
    • NL West
      • Arizona Diamondbacks
      • Colorado Rockies
      • Los Angeles Dodgers
      • San Diego Padres
      • San Francisco Giants
  • About
    • MLB Trade Rumors
    • Tim Dierkes
    • Writing team
    • Advertise
    • Archives
  • Contact
  • Tools
    • 2024-25 MLB Free Agent List
    • 2025-26 MLB Free Agent List
    • 2024-25 Top 50 MLB Free Agents With Predictions
    • Projected Arbitration Salaries For 2025
    • Free Agent Contest Leaderboard
    • Contract Tracker
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Agency Database
  • NBA/NFL/NHL
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors
  • App
  • Chats
Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Brewers Sign Darin Ruf, Place Luke Voit On IL

By Darragh McDonald | May 15, 2023 at 4:00pm CDT

The Brewers announced they have signed first baseman/outfielder Darin Ruf to a one-year contract. Right-hander Brandon Woodruff was transferred to the 60-day injured list to open a spot on the 40-man roster while first baseman Luke Voit was placed on the 10-day injured list with a strained neck to get Ruf onto the active roster. Additionally, the club optioned righty Colin Rea and recalled fellow righty Trevor Megill.

Ruf, 36, has had some success as a lefty-mashing specialist in his career, though he’s been struggling a bit over the past year. After a successful stint in the KBO League from 2017 to 2019, he returned to North America by signing with the Giants prior to 2020. In that shortened season and the subsequent campaign, he hit .272/.381/.519 in 412 plate appearances for a 142 wRC+, including a .275/.390/.579 line and 156 wRC+ against southpaws.

Last year, his overall line dipped to .216/.328/.373, which led to a passable 104 wRC+ but that was obviously not as strong as his previous work. After a trade to the Mets, his production cratered, as he mustered a paltry .152/.216/.197 line the rest of the way. The Mets held onto him through the winter but designated him for assignment at the end of Spring Training. Ruf then returned to the Giants and hit a solid .261/.370/.348 in a tiny sample of nine games before landing on the injured list due to wrist inflammation. He was later reinstated from the IL and designated for assignment when the club selected shortstop prospect Casey Schmitt.

Ruf cleared waivers and elected free agency. Since the Mets initially released him, they are still on the hook for the majority of Ruf’s salary, which is $3MM this year along with a $250K buyout on a 2024 option. The Brewers will only owe him the prorated league minimum for any time Ruf spends on the roster, with that amount subtracted from what the Mets pay. That makes it a fairly low-risk move, at least from a financial perspective, as the Brewers see if Ruf can get back to the excellent form he showed a few years ago.

He will effectively be replacing Voit on the roster as the club’s right-handed hitting first baseman/designated hitter. Voit was signed to a one-year, $2MM deal for this season but has slumped to a .221/.284/.265 showing so far this year for a wRC+ of just 55. Once one of the most potent power hitters in the league, he led the league in homers in the shortened 2020 season before various injuries seemed to slow him down. He hit an average-ish .230/.314/.412 for a wRC+ of 105 over 2021 and 2022 while bouncing from the Yankees to the Padres and Nationals, going on the injured list for an oblique strain and ongoing knee problems. The Brewers gave him a shot this year but he hasn’t been able to capitalize on it just yet and he might have to battle Ruf for his roster spot whenever his neck strain subsides.

As for Woodruff, his transfer to the 60-day IL doesn’t come as a surprise. He was diagnosed with a Grade 2 subscapular strain in his right shoulder in April and isn’t expected back until late June. He’ll now be ineligible to return until 60 days from his initial IL placement of April 8, which would be early June. Since he wasn’t expected to return until after that point anyway, this transfer was an inevitable formality.

Share 0 Retweet 10 Send via email0

Milwaukee Brewers Transactions Brandon Woodruff Colin Rea Darin Ruf Luke Voit Trevor Megill

Rockies Select Fernando Abad, Place C.J. Cron On IL
Main
Cubs Select Nick Burdi, Option Hayden Wesneski
View Comments (39)
Post a Comment

39 Comments

  1. JobuKnows

    2 years ago

    Painful watching L.Voit attempt to “run”

    1
    Reply
    • spooky

      2 years ago

      Voit needs to get another shipment from his boy O’neil

      1
      Reply
      • gbs42

        2 years ago

        Shipment of what???

        Oh, this is a ridiculous PED accusation. How clever…

        3
        Reply
        • thecoffinnail

          2 years ago

          Agreed. Anyone that accuses Voit of PEDs has never laid eyes on him. Next he will accuse Daniel Vogelbach of PEDs. The PEDs accusations have always been overblown anyway. I could take PEDs everyday for breakfast lunch and dinner and I am sure I still won’t be able to hit a MLB slider. They seemed to work at helping them return from injuries faster than normal and they stayed productive into their early 40s but they do nothing to help with the fundamentals of the game. These fools seem to think that a below replacement player could take PEDs and all of a sudden become league MVP. That’s not how it works. They allow players to work harder in the weight room, and to spend more time in the cages. The improvement is from being able to stress your body more and getting a quick recovery. They will never help you throw or hit a curve ball…

          Reply
        • ShieldF123

          2 years ago

          @coffinnail 100% agree. It’s not going to turn a guy on the roster bubble into hank Aaron. Will it help with recovery from injury or allow an older player to heal and recover faster hell yes. It’s basically the difference between griffey and bonds on the back end of their careers

          Reply
  2. chaboijurd

    2 years ago

    Gross

    Reply
  3. RockinRobin

    2 years ago

    I wonder if Woodruff is done for the year. That’s a tough loss.

    Voit: I forget he is even on the team.

    Rea had that nice outing vs the Angels. That was it.

    1
    Reply
    • brewsingblue82

      2 years ago

      He’s currently anticipated back late June. The transferring to the 60 day won’t really affect that. Everything I’ve read so far on him is that he’s progressing well and still on schedule for a late June return.

      8
      Reply
  4. jonathonlucroystan

    2 years ago

    They will do anything to prevent Hiura from coming up

    Reply
    • Milwaukee-2208

      2 years ago

      This annoying rhetoric that the brewers front office is keeping Huira from reaching his full potential is quite ridiculous. They have given him countless opportunities to improve and he has shown he can’t hit major league pitching. They moved him to first, let him DH, let him work out his issues in the minors year after year. He’s been giving more than enough chances.

      He’s a AAAA player who can only DH. He sucks. I’d rather just have him released.

      9
      Reply
      • craig500

        2 years ago

        He is also on the minor league IL.

        6
        Reply
    • brewsingblue82

      2 years ago

      As much as I’d like to see Rookie year Hiura come back, he just hasn’t been able to adjust to the adjustments that opposing pitchers made to him. Maybe a change of scenery would help him, but maybe wherever else he goes, he’ll just continue to hit wel in the minors and lose it in the majors.

      Every time he’s sent to the minors he takes, and as soon as he’s called up, he’s almost a guaranteed strikeout.

      5
      Reply
    • AlBundysFanClubPresident

      2 years ago

      What would be the point? Nevermind the 15 times they sent him down, he “figured it out” so they recalled him and he hit for a week then plummeted back to sub-Mendoza-land, OR that he’s apparently injured himself right now, if they were to recall him and he did his usual 7 days of fire then couldn’t hit it off a tee routine…they’d have to DFA him again and go through that whole mess.

      I have no reason to believe that Ruf will do anything to help the team, but I think I speak for most Brewer fans when I say I’m done getting my hopes up for Hiura.

      4
      Reply
    • mlb fan

      2 years ago

      The Brewer’s Hiura is not really even a prospect anymore; he’s been given so many chances and shown so very little, that the bloom has long been off that rose. The Brewers need anyone that can hit consistently and Hiura has long shown, he cannot help them in that regard, unfortunately.

      1
      Reply
  5. Unclemike1525

    2 years ago

    It’s hard for me to believe that the Brewers don’t have anybody in the minors they can give a shot to and keep adding guys like this. Try the Batboy.

    1
    Reply
    • craig500

      2 years ago

      The Brewers AAA team is filled with journeymen, Hiura is hurt and with Frelick hurt pretty much no prospects. Unless the Brewers want to get really nuts with calling up Tyler Black from AA, there are no hitters to call up.

      5
      Reply
  6. Sunday Lasagna

    2 years ago

    If Garrett Mitchell & Sal Frelick weren’t both injured one of them would have received a call over Ruf.

    2
    Reply
    • brewsingblue82

      2 years ago

      Garrett Mitchell would’ve still been on the major league roster. Frelick would’ve received the call when Mitchell got hurt if he hadn’t gotten hurt the same day, but he has indeed missed some call up opportunities because of his injury.

      5
      Reply
      • pdxbrewcrew

        2 years ago

        Frelick was hitting .232 with an OPS of .639 at that time. He wasn’t going to get the call if healthy.

        Reply
  7. Link182 2

    2 years ago

    Lauer must be going back into the rotation

    2
    Reply
    • AlBundysFanClubPresident

      2 years ago

      Rea was horrible yesterday. Whether or not Lauer figured something out in his Contreras-esque demotion is sort of irrelevant to me. Just anyone not named Rea is a good idea IMO.

      2
      Reply
  8. miggywrld

    2 years ago

    Wow. Brewers are in a pretty Ruf position.

    6
    Reply
    • AlBundysFanClubPresident

      2 years ago

      They’re barking up the wrong tree.

      3
      Reply
  9. cheesemanforever

    2 years ago

    Will anybody notice that Voit is on the IL?

    Reply
    • brewsingblue82

      2 years ago

      Probably not but I also don’t think many have noticed that we’ve utilized him wrong either. He hits righties better than lefties, yet we always start him against LHP. We basically bought him in to platoon and then platooned him against the wrong pitchers.

      2
      Reply
      • baumann

        2 years ago

        The Brewers actually did the same thing with Hiura: Hiura hits RHP better, but they gave him more PA vs. LHP.

        Reply
  10. Sliderwitcheese

    2 years ago

    I’ve made my feelings toward Luke known countless times. He will continue on his dysfunctional cycle of emotional eating after games while entertaining himself with conservative, AM talk radio programs until he is released.

    3
    Reply
    • CravenMoorehead

      2 years ago

      He be eatin them red baron frozen pizzas at 11pm 🙂

      2
      Reply
    • Viveleempireevil

      2 years ago

      Conservative AM talk radio? Tool.

      2
      Reply
  11. Chris Koch

    2 years ago

    10 days without Voit isn’t l9ng enough. Hope it’s rest of the season by Ruf hitting multiple HRs keeping Voit off the team. The team needs to give up platoon playing Tellez or Winker with the Voit/Rufus 1b. Use Brosseau or Caratini if you must.

    Reply
    • nottinghamforest13

      2 years ago

      ¿Que?

      1
      Reply
    • brewsingblue82

      2 years ago

      The problem isn’t with Voit, it’s with how the Brewers have utilized him. Because he’s right handed, they start him against LHP. Except for years now, Voit has faired way better against RHP as opposed to LHP. This year he’s hitting .349 against RHP and .091 against LHP. Yet we start him against southpaws instead of righties. In the 5 games he’s started against righties, he’s batting .321, as opposed to .150 in 12 starts against LHP. When used correctly, he’s been fine. The problem is they’ve used him incorrectly more and that’s all most people are seeing.

      1
      Reply
      • Chris Koch

        2 years ago

        Looks like you’re right. Problem is Tellez is better vs RHP. Voit coming in to the season had at least an average LHP platoon split than what Milw had to employ as a 1b/DH platoon to the LHs Tellez/Winker. It’s amazing the team can’t produce a 1b after all these years in the minors. Not even a Catcher to be a backup/RH platoon bat at 1b when needed.

        Reply
  12. DCartrow

    2 years ago

    “Voit shore gotta purdy mouth don’t he”

    Reply
  13. JayRyder

    2 years ago

    Ruf Ruf Ruf Ruf Ruf. That’s a lot of Rufs.

    Reply
  14. TrillionaireTeamOperator

    2 years ago

    I think Voit is done. I don’t see him rebounding at his age with his injury history and the holes that were already in his game.

    Reply
  15. Robrock30

    2 years ago

    Darin Ruf ha ha ha. I thought the Brewers were savvy lol

    1
    Reply
  16. Ignorant Son-of-a-b

    2 years ago

    I am having a hard time rooting for this team for some reason. I have always thought they had a stellar manager but this year everything is looking fairly mediocre-ish. I could be bitter because they swept the Mariners, but still I usually like this team, yet this year there is something lacking.

    Reply
  17. agnes gooch

    2 years ago

    Ruf is on the move! Ruf is on the move! (For any Giants fans reading this lololol)
    Good luck Darin!

    1
    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Please login to leave a reply.

Log in Register

    Top Stories

    Corbin Carroll Diagnosed With Wrist Fracture

    Reds Designate Jeimer Candelario For Assignment

    Hoops Rumors Has The Latest On NBA Draft, Free Agency

    Mets Option Francisco Alvarez

    Reds To Promote Chase Burns For MLB Debut

    A.J. Puk Undergoes Elbow Surgery; Gabriel Moreno Diagnosed With Fractured Finger

    Mariners Designate Rowdy Tellez For Assignment

    Braves To Select Didier Fuentes

    Anthopoulos On Trading Chris Sale: “Will Not Happen”

    Rays Owner Stuart Sternberg In “Advanced” Talks To Sell Team

    Rafael Devers To Start Work At First Base With Giants

    Giants Acquire Rafael Devers

    Shohei Ohtani To Make Dodgers Pitching Debut On Monday

    Roki Sasaki No Longer Throwing; No Timetable For Return

    Nationals To Promote Brady House

    White Sox, Brewers Swap Aaron Civale, Andrew Vaughn

    Justin Martínez To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

    Brewers’ Aaron Civale Requests Trade

    Angels To Promote Christian Moore

    Brewers Promote Jacob Misiorowski

    Recent

    Trade Deadline Outlook: Philadelphia Phillies

    Corbin Carroll Diagnosed With Wrist Fracture

    Twins Have Exercised Rocco Baldelli’s 2026 Option

    Blue Jays Release Erik Swanson

    Tyler Nevin Signs Two-Year Extension With NPB’s Seibu Lions

    Royals Option Kyle Wright

    White Sox Outright Caleb Freeman

    Poll: AL MVP Race Check-In

    Rangers Select Dane Dunning

    Cubs Select Michael Fulmer

    MLBTR Newsletter - Hot stove highlights in your inbox, five days a week

    Latest Rumors & News

    Latest Rumors & News

    • 2024-25 Top 50 MLB Free Agents With Predictions
    • Nolan Arenado Rumors
    • Dylan Cease Rumors
    • Luis Robert Rumors
    • Marcus Stroman Rumors

     

    Trade Rumors App for iOS and Android App Store Google Play

    MLBTR Features

    MLBTR Features

    • Remove Ads, Support Our Writers
    • Front Office Originals
    • Front Office Fantasy Baseball
    • MLBTR Podcast
    • 2024-25 Offseason Outlook Series
    • 2025 Arbitration Projections
    • 2024-25 MLB Free Agent List
    • 2025-26 MLB Free Agent List
    • Contract Tracker
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Extension Tracker
    • Agency Database
    • MLBTR On Twitter
    • MLBTR On Facebook
    • Team Facebook Pages
    • How To Set Up Notifications For Breaking News
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors

    Rumors By Team

    • Angels Rumors
    • Astros Rumors
    • Athletics Rumors
    • Blue Jays Rumors
    • Braves Rumors
    • Brewers Rumors
    • Cardinals Rumors
    • Cubs Rumors
    • Diamondbacks Rumors
    • Dodgers Rumors
    • Giants Rumors
    • Guardians Rumors
    • Mariners Rumors
    • Marlins Rumors
    • Mets Rumors
    • Nationals Rumors
    • Orioles Rumors
    • Padres Rumors
    • Phillies Rumors
    • Pirates Rumors
    • Rangers Rumors
    • Rays Rumors
    • Red Sox Rumors
    • Reds Rumors
    • Rockies Rumors
    • Royals Rumors
    • Tigers Rumors
    • Twins Rumors
    • White Sox Rumors
    • Yankees Rumors

    Navigation

    • Sitemap
    • Archives
    • RSS/Twitter Feeds By Team

    MLBTR INFO

    • Advertise
    • About
    • Commenting Policy
    • Privacy Policy

    Connect

    • Contact Us
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS Feed

    MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

    hide arrows scroll to top

    Register

    Desktop Version | Switch To Mobile Version