MILWAUKEE – You didn’t think the Brewers would make it through Spring Training without adding pitching depth, did you?
A team always on the lookout for undervalued arms added an interesting one on the final day of exhibition play Tuesday, when the Brewers and Rays finalized a trade that sent right-handed reliever Jake Woodford to Milwaukee in exchange for Minor League righty K.C. Hunt and cash.
The Brewers transferred outfielder Akil Baddoo to the 60-day injured list to open up a 40-man roster spot for 29-year-old Woodford, who had an upward mobility clause in his Minor League contract with the Rays that triggered the move to a Major League opportunity in Milwaukee.
TRADE DETAILS
Brewers get: RHP Jake Woodford
Rays get: Minor League RHP K.C. Hunt, cash
Even though he’s out of options, it’s not guaranteed that Woodford will be on the Opening Day roster. There’s a 72-hour grace period following a trade to account for travel.
The Brewers could play Thursday’s opener without Woodford, then option out a bullpen arm to bring him in fresh for Game 2, if they choose.
Whenever he arrives, the Brewers believe Woodford will help.
“He’s pitched in a number of different roles and been a veteran in the league for a while,” Brewers president of baseball operations Matt Arnold said. “We have some history with him. He’s an interesting arm that can play a valuable role in a number of different spots in our bullpen, or potentially even at the front of games.”
Woodford has plenty of experience in the NL Central as he spent the first four seasons of his MLB career -- 2020-23 -- with the Cardinals, pitching to a 4.29 ERA over 80 appearances, including 18 starts. Last year, Woodford spent a few weeks in the Cubs’ system before getting released in July and picked up by the D-backs, with whom he pitched to a 6.44 ERA across 22 relief appearances.
The Rays signed Woodford as a non-roster invitee last November, and he was effective in his seven Spring Training appearances, allowing one run on four hits over 7 1/3 innings while building up to 40-plus pitches.
Pitchers like Woodford – versatile, multi-inning relievers who are relatively platoon-neutral – will be especially important for the Brewers this season given the youth of their starting rotation and the uncertainty that comes with that. It’s also helpful that Woodford is right-handed, considering that the Brewers are lefty-heavy in the bullpen.
“The front office has done an incredible job of always being mindful and on-point when it comes to trying to make an upgrade in some way,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “We’ve learned to trust that.”
This is a busy time of year for Arnold and the front office, who are on the lookout for value as other teams make final roster adjustments ahead of Opening Day (26-man rosters are due Wednesday at 11 a.m. CT). The staff had a meeting planned for 3 p.m. CT on Tuesday, about an hour before the first pitch of their exhibition finale against the Reds, to make final decisions.
“We always talk about trying to make the team better. That’s a real thing for us,” said Arnold, whose recent springtime finds include a trade for Quinn Priester last April when he was pitching for Boston’s Triple-A affiliate, and for Trevor Megill in April 2023 after he’d been designated for assignment.
In both cases, the Brewers needed depth. That’s the aim here, too.
“You can’t be comfortable with any team walking into Opening Day, because you know it’s going to change [for] Game 2,” Arnold said. “But we feel like we have enough depth built up, and that’s why we acquired somebody like Woodford here to help us.
“We feel good about the roster. We feel good that there’s a combination of veterans and young guys that we like. We’re ready to go.”
Hunt, 25, was picked up by the Brewers as an undrafted free agent in 2023 following his collegiate career at Mississippi State. He was named the Brewers Co-Minor League Pitcher of the Year in ‘24 after logging a 2.03 ERA and striking out 139 batters in 102 innings across three levels. Hunt spent all of last season at Double-A Biloxi, where he pitched 121 1/3 innings and had a 4.45 ERA through 26 starts.
“You have to give up something to get something,” Arnold said. “Accelerating what K.C. Hunt was into a guy who can contribute to our Major League team right now was something we felt like made sense.”