Former Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Jake Woodford was designated for assignment by the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday, a day after calling him up from Triple-A Durham, via the MLB transaction log.
The move opened a roster spot for reliever Manuel Rodríguez, who returned from the injured list. Woodford’s entire Rays stay amounted to one outing: 1 1/3 innings against the Yankees on Thursday, three hits, a walk, two strikeouts and three earned runs.
For Brewers fans, the transaction is less a shock than a reminder of how this season has gone for a pitcher Milwaukee used as early-season depth and then let go.
Woodford arrived in Milwaukee on March 24, when the Brewers sent right-hander K.C. Hunt and cash to Tampa Bay for the 29-year-old after he failed to crack the Rays’ Opening Day roster.
He was added to the 40-man and slotted into long relief — the kind of innings-eater Milwaukee often needs when starters come out early or blowouts pile up.
In 16 appearances, he went 1-0 with a 6.94 ERA over 23 1/3 innings, 20 strikeouts, seven walks and one save. The numbers never settled. He finished most of his games, usually after the outcome was already decided.
The Brewers designated him for assignment on June 5 after he threw 56 pitches over the final three innings of a 12-9 loss to San Francisco and allowed four earned runs. With no options remaining, he had to come off the 40-man.
He cleared waivers, elected free agency, then quickly re-signed with Milwaukee on a minor-league deal before opting out in early July. From there it was the Cubs, another DFA, free agency again, and an August return to the Rays organization that first held him last winter. Tampa Bay was his third big-league club of 2026.
That path is the story more than any single box score. Woodford, a St. Petersburg native and former Cardinals draft pick, has now pitched for seven organizations since 2020.
Milwaukee was a short, specific chapter: a trade for a prospect, a defined long-relief role, and a midseason roster squeeze when results and injuries forced the club’s hand.
From a Brewers angle, Friday’s DFA does not change much in Milwaukee. Hunt remains the return on the March deal. Woodford’s time in a Brewers uniform was exactly what those mid-roster arms often are — useful until they are not, then someone else’s problem.
He will go through waivers again with three days left in the regular season.
A claim is unlikely. Another minor-league deal somewhere is the more probable next line on a résumé that already reads like a tour of the league.
For Milwaukee, it is simply another reminder that last spring’s bullpen depth experiment had a short shelf life — and that Woodford’s 2026 has been defined by one-day jobs and designation paperwork more than by any one city.
