The Milwaukee Brewers surprised some by tendering Brandon Woodruff the qualifying offer this offseason after his mutual option was declined.

The reason this decision was surprising was because of the fact that with his mutual option declined, he was owed a $10 million buyout. When Milwaukee announced that the $20 million mutual option was declined, it specifically noted that it was Woodruff’s decision.

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The 2026 qualifying offer is worth just over $22 million at $22.025 million. Milwaukee decided to roll the dice to tender the qualifying offer to Woodruff. On Tuesday, he accepted it. Woodruff isn’t leaving the organization and MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy pointed out that he will become the first pitcher in team history to make over $20 million in a season now in 2026.

Brandon Woodruff is making Brewers history after picking up the qualifying offer

“Woodruff accepted, and will be the first pitcher in Brewers history to earn north of $20 million for a single season,” McCalvy said. “Also accepting qualifying offers were Cubs left-hander Shota Imanaga, Tigers second baseman Gleyber Torres and Yankees outfielder Trent Grisham. The nine other players who were extended offers declined.”

Woodruff surely is worth the price tag. Even after missing the entire 2024 season and most of the 2023 season, he still pitched to a 3.20 ERA in 12 starts in 2025. On top of this, his strikeout numbers looked good. He had 83 strikeouts in 64 2/3 innings pitched. That’s 11.6 strikeouts per nine innings and he also had a 5.93 strikeouts per walk. Both of these metrics were the best of his career, although in a small sample size.

The top free agents, like Framber Valdez and Dylan Cease, are likely to get higher annual averages than Woodruff, although the Brewers ace arguably is better when he’s healthy and at his best.

Clearly, the Brewers wanted to keep Woodruff around. Milwaukee isn’t team to typically make a big investment, but Woodruff was a special case.

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