Brandon Woodruff will continue his tenure with the club into 2026, as Ken Rosenthal reported on Tuesday afternoon that the Brewers’ former ace is accepting Milwaukee’s qualifying offer.
Woodruff’s future with the Brewers was a major offseason storyline, for a few reasons. For starters, his injury woes over the past three seasons made it difficult to confidently project his value on the open market. The 32-year-old has taken the mound just 23 times over the last three years, pitching just 131 â…” innings. He made his return from shoulder surgery this year, but a right lat strain ended his season in September after 12 starts.
Both Woodruff and the Brewers said his shoulder remained fully healthy, though, and they extended him a $22.025-million qualifying offer, an unprecedented salary commitment to a pitcher for the franchise. Some outlets projected he would land a three-year deal north of $60 million in free agency. He’ll instead take the short-term route, with Rosenthal also noting that the two sides could still agree to a new multi-year contract with a lesser annual value.
Woodruff’s return brings some clarity to his short-term future, but it also raises new questions—the first being what he’ll contribute on the field. He predictably lost three ticks of fastball velocity this year, but his pitch shapes and strong command remained intact, and he added a cutter during his rehab. That allowed his stuff to play just as well as it did in his prime, culminating in a 3.20 ERA, 2.18 xERA, and 81 DRA-.
It’s difficult to imagine the Brewers committing more than $20 million to their former ace if they did not expect additional velocity and durability from a fully healthy shoulder in 2026. Even so, it’s an uncharacteristic gamble for a front office that usually prefers to maintain financial flexibility with more measured investments.
That leads into the second question: how the Brewers will construct the rest of their pitching staff with Woodruff back in the fold. Cot’s Contracts now projects their 2026 luxury tax payroll to exceed $130 million. Woodruff’s presence in the clubhouse and on the books could make trading Freddy Peralta more palatable, especially with Logan Henderson, Robert Gasser, Tobias Myers, and Coleman Crow on the 40-man roster as capable rotation options.
Plenty of moving parts remain throughout the pitching mix, both on and off the field. Some answers will become clearer in the coming weeks, while others will not until next summer. The only certainty, for now, is that Woodruff is still a Brewer.