The Cubs are signing right-hander Jake Woodford to a minor league deal, reports MLBTR’s Steve Adams. Woodford, a client of Excel Sports Management, is heading to Triple-A Iowa and will start for that club tomorrow night.
Woodford, 28, just opted out of a minor league deal with the Yankees a few days ago. Prior to opting out, he had logged 39 2/2 innings for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre over seven starts and three long relief appearances. He allowed 4.54 earned runs per nine with a 21.5% strikeout rate, 9.4% walk rate and 42.4% ground ball rate.
That wasn’t enough to get called up to the Yankees. They had suffered injuries to starters Gerrit Cole, Luis Gil and Marcus Stroman but guys like Will Warren and Ryan Yarbrough have stepped up to stabilize the group.
The Cubs have their own slate of rotation injuries at the moment. Justin Steele, Shota Imanaga and Javier Assad are all on the injured list at the moment. Steele required UCL surgery in April and won’t come back this year. That leaves them with a rotation of Matthew Boyd, Jameson Taillon, Colin Rea, Ben Brown and Cade Horton. Boyd is having a good year but is up to 68 2/3 innings. The last time he hit 79 in a season was in 2019. Rea is a swingman who has been thrust into the rotation by the injuries. Horton is a big prospect but has only five big league appearances thus far.
In terms of depth, Chris Flexen was previously in the Triple-A rotation but is now in the big league bullpen. Jordan Wicks is on the 40-man but has a 4.86 for Iowa this year. The Cubs will likely be looking for starting pitching prior to the deadline but adding Woodford gives them an experienced arm to call upon if their rotation suffers another injury in the coming weeks.
He has had some major league success as a swingman in the past, mostly by keeping the ball on the ground. With the Cardinals in 2021 and 2022, he logged 116 innings with a 3.26 ERA. He only punched out 15.4% of opponents but got opponents to hit the ball into the dirt at a 45.6% clip. His ERA spiked to 6.23 in 2023, which pushed him towards journeyman mode. He posted a 7.97 ERA last year between the White Sox and Pirates. Here in 2025, he signed a minor league deal with the Rockies but opted out at the end of spring. That led to his Yankee deal, which he also opted out of.
Photo courtesy of Rick Scuteri, Imagn Images
In 2016 the Cubs acquired Mike Montgomery; nobody was excited about the trade, and no one would have ever imagined that he’d throw the Cubs last pitch of the season. I’m sure Jake’s a fine human, and loves dogs, America, and The Lord, but I can’t imagine him making much of a difference on the 25 man roster. He’s more of a AAA depth piece, which isn’t a bad deal at all. On the other hand, maybe he’ll be this season’s lightning in a bottle.
(And for the record, I think the Cubs season ends this year, no matter if it’s the playoffs or the regular season, with Suzuki taking a called 3rd strike to end the game and season)
“(And for the record, I think the Cubs season ends this year, no matter if it’s the playoffs or the regular season, with Suzuki taking a called 3rd strike to end the game and season)”
What do you mean by that?
I bet that it’s actually a ball but the umpire rings him up
Only Mike Montgomery can say that he has the most famous World Series save of all time. Unless there’s another 108 year championship drought he’ll forever have the most famous 2 pitch save in world series history. Tbf Michael Martinez can also say he’s the most famous world series out. Ending the Cubs drought of 108 years. The guardians have 31 years until they reach the 108 year mark.
And on another topic, this business of pitchers standing on the mound and applauding good defensive plays is something I could live without. When Ron Santo made a great play, Ferguson Jenkins never applauded him for it.
I know, I know, I’m a dinosaur who is yelling at the kids to get off my lawn, and I admit it’s not such a big deal. But little things like this accumulate to dilute the impact of baseball, its unique beauty and power. They make baseball too much like other forms of entertainment, like other kinds of distractions in our distracted time.
Roger Angell would agree with me, I think, and file the pitcher-applauding under “Act Like You Been There Before.”
Your blood pressure probably goes through the roof when PCA hits one out.
Right? I love the kid but he’s gonna take one in the ribs one of these days.
No, it elevates when he strikes out in key situations, as he has been doing with increasing frequency.
How about when he hits another one out in key situations like last night?
And every time Alex Cohen opens his mouth.
By the way, does Ian Happ plan to do ANY hitting this season? Or is he just going to concentrate on his show-biz career?
Where is Sciambi? He does like 1 game a week now. Happ finally starting to hit but why is he still leading off?
You don’t like AC? He’s 100x better than Boog.
In typical Cubs fashion they are worried about Brown and Horton’s innings while letting Boyd toss 95 pitches in early June. You know, The guy that’s been hurt every year for the last 4 years. So they sign Woolford, Bring him up to pitch in the Majors so one of those other guys can go back down and throw, The same amount of innings for Iowa? I must be missing something about the plan of attack here because it’s Horton and Brown who need the MLB innings and learn on the fly. What are they going to learn in Iowa? How to shuck corn? SMH. This guy opted out for the Yankees to come here? You know he got an opt out for probably 2 starts in Iowa at a Max.
Unclemike1526—are you suggesting that the Cubs should have taken Boyd out last night after six innings and 65 pitches because he’s been hurt the last four years?
I’m sure you’re the guy that was excited when they signed him to be a closer even though he has never gotten a save in ten years of pro ball.
And, oh yeah, that guy you drooled over, Tanner Scott leads the majors in blown saves.
Well Tanner Scott is like a lot of guys when they sign the big deal. He tries to earn it all right off the bat. I fully expect him to be fine sooner rather than later. And if they offered him to the Cubs right now I’d jump on it. And taking him out after 65 pitches would be really dumb. But I probably would keep him around 80-85 especially with the way the starters are injured. At least until some start making their way back or they find another one. Who’s pitches should should they be watching? The 2 25 year old guys or the guy who’s like 4 arm injuries? You tell me.
Definitely watch the two 25 year old kids. Not even a question. They combined for 85 innings last year and both missed three quarters of the season with guess what? Injuries!!! And they need to be the future as well as the present.
It’s not like Boyd was over worked…he has thrown 92-98 pitches in 10 of his 12 starts and 83 and 85 in the other two. That seems to be pretty spot on pitch count management to me.
Christ sakes you are an idiot.
Another soft-tosser off the scrap heap…super. Now go get Alcantara and Mason Miller so the Cubs don’t waste Tucker’s lone year in Cubbie blue. Get Rea back in the long relief where he belongs. Brown should probably be in the pen too.
I don’t think the Marlins are trading Alcantara, at least not right now, with his stock being so low.
I don’t think he’s gonna suddenly be fixed by the deadline either. There are other people they can go after. Hoyer being a lame duck means he’s not going to care all that much who he trades. But the facts are the Cubs have a few guys who have been at Iowa for awhile and have no place to ascend to so might as well move them. Gallen, Cease, Kelly might be options. Hopefully some of the wounded start making it back. Assad, Imanaga, Birdsell, and McCollugh are all on the way back. McCullough is on rehab at the ACL Cubs for now. Not sure where he gets placed when he’s done. He was at AA so he might start there, Or he could be moved up. They still have Noland and Sanders at Iowa. McCullough is supposedly the name that keeps popping up in trade discussions. Alcantara, Long, Triantos have no quick path to the Cubs. Franklin too. I’d keep Caissie and Ballesteros. I don’t know what Jed’s gonna do, I just know I’m probably not gonna like it. Gallagher supposed to hit the Cubs top 30 today but he’s a long way away. Wiggins, Horton and Brown are untouchable to me.