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Pirates Select Jake Woodford

By Anthony Franco | September 18, 2024 at 5:35pm CDT

September 18: The Bucs have now made it official. Right-hander Kyle Nicolas has been placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to September 17, with a left oblique strain. That opens an active roster spot. Righty Ben Heller has been transferred to the 60-day IL to open a 40-man spot. Heller landed on the 15-day IL August 30 due to right shoulder inflammation, so his season is over.

September 17: The Pirates will promote right-hander Jake Woodford to start tomorrow’s game in St. Louis, reports Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (X link). He’s on a minor league contract, so the Bucs need to select him onto the 40-man roster.

It’ll be Woodford’s second stint with the Bucs and his third appearance in the majors this season. The 27-year-old began the season with the White Sox, allowing 10 runs in 8 1/3 innings. He had a longer leash with Pittsburgh but continued to struggle. Woodford pitched to a 6.95 ERA across 22 frames before the Pirates designated him for assignment at the end of August.

This will be Woodford’s first appearance against the Cardinals. He’d played with St. Louis for his entire career until this season. The 39th overall pick of the 2015 draft, he pitched 184 2/3 innings over four MLB campaigns with the Cards. Woodford managed a respectable 4.29 earned run average overall, but he struggled to a 6.23 mark across 47 2/3 innings last season. The Cardinals non-tendered him as a result.

Pittsburgh’s 40-man roster is at capacity, so they’ll need to make a corresponding move tomorrow. Woodford is out of options and cannot be sent back to the minors without going on waivers. There’s a good chance the Bucs take him off the 40-man roster early in the offseason even if he sticks in the majors for the final two weeks of the regular season.

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Pittsburgh Pirates Transactions Ben Heller Jake Woodford Kyle Nicolas

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64 Comments

  1. Carl Winslow

    1 year ago

    Congratulations, Jacob Robert Woodford.

    – Carl Winslow

    2
    Reply
  2. mlb1225

    1 year ago

    Why? Literally, just give Mike Burrows a shot. You have 1000x more to gain than to lose by giving Burrows a shot at this point. Plus he’s already on the 40-man roster.

    5
    Reply
    • User 576253516

      1 year ago

      Paul Skenes

      Reply
    • Mendoza Line 215

      1 year ago

      They may want to shut Burrows down at the end of the AAA season.

      Reply
      • mlb1225

        1 year ago

        Maybe, but he just pitched the other day. Let him get his feet wet in the Majors. If he does bad, he does bad, but at least he got some experience. If he does good, then he could give himself an inside edge to an OD roster spot next year, or the Pirates could try and use the added value in a trade.

        1
        Reply
        • ElGaupo77

          1 year ago

          1-2 four innings starts really tell you nothing

          Reply
        • bucsfan

          1 year ago

          They’ve told me Woodford ain’t the guy

          Reply
        • TheMan 3

          1 year ago

          if they really told you that, why aren’t you sharing who’s really coming up?

          Reply
        • TheMan 3

          1 year ago

          apparently what they told you was wrong

          Reply
        • bucsfan

          1 year ago

          I was responding in relation to 1-2 four inning starts really tell you nothing. As in he’s not a MLB quality pitcher. I see how that could have been misinterpreted as I know something you don’t know based on how the comments loaded

          Reply
        • TheMan 3

          1 year ago

          Then why make the claim that “ they’ve told me Woodford ain’t the guy “?
          you apparently don’t know as much as you think

          Reply
  3. TheMan 3

    1 year ago

    Another pitiful offensive performance by this team in tonight’s game, including adding another 10 strikeouts to what appears to be breaking the franchise record in that dubious category by season’s end

    Other than DLC’s second homer with the Bucs since being traded, Nick Yorke collected his first three hits of his major league career

    Reply
    • Carl Winslow

      1 year ago

      We appreciate you sharing your thoughts with us. You are clearly a baseball intellectual.

      – Carl Winslow

      2
      Reply
  4. Mendoza Line 215

    1 year ago

    Could be the end of the road for Borucki,at least for this year.

    Reply
    • TheMan 3

      1 year ago

      it should be the end of the road for Cherington, Shelton and Haines
      This team has not improved from last year and with them missing the playoffs again and the likelihood of finishing well below .500, none deserve to return next season

      Good pitching only works well when the offense can be supportive and be productive
      This team lacks the offense to support good pitching

      5
      Reply
    • holecamels35

      1 year ago

      He’s not getting tendered. Maybe spring training invite. Took him nearly all year to come back from a minor injury. Don’t have the patience for guys like that.

      Reply
  5. Mendoza Line 215

    1 year ago

    This is why they should have tried to keep Josh Fleming around as he was a reasonably good 13 th pitcher and could start or long relieve or throw an inning and be decent at any of them.

    2
    Reply
    • TheMan 3

      1 year ago

      No one ever said that Cherington had a good baseball mind and his transactions prove it

      2
      Reply
    • YourDreamGM

      1 year ago

      Or Hill and his 2.06 era. Would be 1 something at PNC.

      Reply
  6. buns cherington

    1 year ago

    why not Harrington?

    Reply
  7. TheMan 3

    1 year ago

    Sonny Gray is scheduled to start for the Cardinals this afternoon against the Pirates
    Can anyone say “ three games sweep “?

    If not for Keller and Skenes, I would wish the Pirates lose the rest of their games this season and end up with a convincingly worse record than last. In the hopes that current management loses their respective jobs in October
    Something must change, because they aren’t any better than when Cherington and company initially took over the franchise and in some areas are worse
    The 10 game losing streak should have been the icing on the cake so hopefully having a worse record than last year should convince Nutting that it’s time to go in a different direction

    1
    Reply
    • retire21

      1 year ago

      This is a 4 game series in St. Louis btw. Shelton and his entire staff should go; I would not have brought them back this year. He has an absolutely uncanny ability to “cool down ” hot hitters while giving more ABs to those already ice-cold. His lack of awareness in the midst of this season’s 10-game losing streak was shocking.

      3
      Reply
      • TheMan 3

        1 year ago

        I stand corrected though I still see a sweep of 4 games

        You are correct about Shelton shutting down hot hitters at the worst possible times. He did it yesterday when he benched IKF from the lineup.

        Reply
    • retire21

      1 year ago

      I won’t be surprised AT ALL if Yorke is given the day off after playing just 2 games and collecting 3 hits last night.
      143 lineups in 151 games. DS is a joke.

      6
      Reply
      • bucsfan

        1 year ago

        That’s a remarkable stat, even with todays reliance on analytics for matchups

        Reply
        • TheMan 3

          1 year ago

          except that this team doesn’t have the talent to use analytics. If they did, they wouldn’t be experiencing their 5th consecutive losing season under this administration

          Reply
        • TheMan 3

          1 year ago

          I agree Newbuccoprojectory. If nothing else, Grandal should be released and Delay promoted since they need a second catcher on the roster but to pinch hit for a rookie who already had 3 hits is ridiculous

          and there’s two nutcases peddling that lie

          Reply
  8. rodneyave

    1 year ago

    And the pirates drop back and punt again……..

    1
    Reply
    • TheMan 3

      1 year ago

      drop back, punt and subsequently collapse

      Same story of the past 5 years under the leadership of Ben Cherington and his regime of losers

      Reply
  9. TheMan 3

    1 year ago

    so who’s losing their roster spot for this bum? It should be Shelton but he doesn’t hold a spot. Next up should be Haines but he doesn’t hold one either

    How about Taylor? Or Connor Joe? Or the entire front office?

    Reply
  10. RussianFemboy

    1 year ago

    I have autographs of this dude, why cant he just be good? TwT

    Reply
    • Carl Winslow

      1 year ago

      TheMan 3 runs his fan club when he isn’t crying on MLBTR about something.

      – Carl Winslow

      4
      Reply
      • TheMan 3

        1 year ago

        you don’t need to sign your name after every post considering it’s included in your profile name, Carl
        or are you too poorly educated to remember after writing your opinions?

        1
        Reply
        • RussianFemboy

          1 year ago

          Theman3

          I didn’t even mention you in my post either lmao, idk what he’s talking about.

          Reply
        • TheMan 3

          1 year ago

          I know you didn’t mention my name, Femboy.

          Carl is one of those people I was taught to ignore because he often times doesn’t make any sense

          1
          Reply
        • Carl Winslow

          1 year ago

          TheMan 3 soft as silk. Hit the mute button and whine about it like you always do.

          🙂

          – Carl Winslow AKA your father

          2
          Reply
        • SkenesandSlopes

          1 year ago

          When you answer someone you were taught to ignore it means you are not ignoring them. Food for thought.

          3
          Reply
        • TheMan 3

          1 year ago

          Food for thought
          Take notice of who I was responding to before offering your advice
          It was Femboy

          apparently you suffer from reading comprehension problems

          Reply
        • SkenesandSlopes

          1 year ago

          TheMan you responded to Winslow first, then Femboy. Apparently you suffer from serious mental health issues and you should stop interacting with people on a baseball board.

          1
          Reply
        • RussianFemboy

          1 year ago

          crazy how you randomly come here just to insult lmao.

          thank you for your input skenes

          1
          Reply
      • TheMan 3

        1 year ago

        I have been a Pirate fan since 1966, was a season ticket holder for 30 years
        I have earned my right to complain about this team

        How about putting your name twice in your comments? So we don’t forget who you are

        1
        Reply
        • RussianFemboy

          1 year ago

          TheMan3

          Yehhh get em :3

          Reply
  11. Baller4mlb

    1 year ago

    I’m with you on that one. Woodford is trash by all means.. even amongst quad A types. He’d do better in indy ball

    2
    Reply
    • TheMan 3

      1 year ago

      apparently, Shelton wants to misuse his bullpen again, this guy will get hammered early by the Cardinals batters and then Shelton will complain that the bullpen is overworked

      2
      Reply
      • Baller4mlb

        1 year ago

        They’re really throwing in the white towel now. As if it wasn’t evident enough already

        2
        Reply
  12. Dice 66

    1 year ago

    Head scratcher for sure! Don’t understand at all? Fighting for Ben to stay but this is plain stupid! Bring up young arm. Release one of the dead beats! If nothing else for the fans. Love to be GM for a week.

    1
    Reply
  13. panj341

    1 year ago

    Hope this move makes Nutting realize that this GM is incompetent and needs to be fired.

    2
    Reply
  14. TheMan 3

    1 year ago

    tonight’s starter for the Cardinals is Sonny Gray
    He has struck out 195 batters in 160 innings
    Considering the Bucs strike out on average more than 9 times per 9 innings, it’s very likely that they will continue their trend at striking out in double digits and could score minimal runs which would also be their seasonal trend

    Reply
  15. Dice 66

    1 year ago

    No hitter tonight! Yorke looked good last night. You hit you play.

    Reply
  16. Carl Winslow

    1 year ago

    Yeah no one is reading all that cope lol.

    – Carl Winslow

    2
    Reply
    • TheMan 3

      1 year ago

      I read his comments, and apparently you did too Karl

      1
      Reply
  17. Carl Winslow

    1 year ago

    This literally has nothing to do with the Pirates selecting Jake Woodford. Please stay on topic.

    – Carl Winslow

    2
    Reply
    • TheMan 3

      1 year ago

      when you become room monitor we’ll consider your advice, Carl
      Otherwise mind your own business

      1
      Reply
      • SkenesandSlopes

        1 year ago

        I believe they are the same person. Like Steve and Stefahn.

        1
        Reply
  18. Dice 66

    1 year ago

    Fools!! After this stupid call up,time for everyone to go!

    1
    Reply
  19. holecamels35

    1 year ago

    Quit giving innings to guys like this. Had to be someone in the minors with a semblance of upside. He had 1 lucky start, quit sending these guys back down, just move on.

    1
    Reply
  20. njbirdsfan

    1 year ago

    You should scream it allowed from the rooftops.

    Jesus Christ.

    2
    Reply
    • Carl Winslow

      1 year ago

      Newbucoprojectory is sharing a box of kleenexes with TheMan 3 right now. Sad.

      – Carl Winslow

      3
      Reply
    • SkenesandSlopes

      1 year ago

      Aloud*

      1
      Reply
  21. Dice 66

    1 year ago

    YES!! Ben! What up? What about the fans. YES MOVE ON. Wouldn’t pay 5 dollars to see this game.Not worth televising!

    Reply
    • Skeptical

      1 year ago

      @Dice 66, you’re lucky then. There are tickets available for $0 on one of the resale sites for tomorrow’s game. I think fees are a couple of bucks. It is not the first time that St Louis tickets are for zero dollars or one dollar.

      Reply
  22. TheMan 3

    1 year ago

    another case of Shelton misusing his bullpen in last night’s game
    why did long reliever, Wentz only pitch 1 third of an inning. He should have pitched multiple innings which would have prevented the need to use Bednar who has not been reliable all year and last night’s game proved it

    one more loss and it will guarantee a below .500 record for the 5th consecutive season under Derek Shelton. I can’t imagine Bob Nutting is very pleased that this team has not improved during this period

    2
    Reply
  23. TheMan 3

    1 year ago

    This is for Carl who seems to be happy with the Pirates this season

    They are on pace to break the franchise all time record in strikeouts with 1513 for one season
    As a reminder, the franchise is over 130 years old so this dubious record should be a frightening sign of how bad this team’s offense has been this year

    2
    Reply
  24. TheMan 3

    1 year ago

    Mr Moron the lineup changer did it again for tonight’s game
    While he should be penciling in the players who more than likely will return next season, he writes in players who won’t be
    Cook is one who should be in the lineup for every game for the remainder of the season and of course he isn’t

    Reply

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