Former Chicago Cubs pitcher Jake Woodford was designated for assignment by the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday, ending a major-league stay that lasted one day and one outing, via the MLB transaction log.
For Cubs fans who watched him pass through Wrigley Field this summer, the move is familiar: another short stop on a crowded 2026 itinerary.
Woodford, 29, was recalled Thursday from Triple-A Durham and immediately used against the Yankees. He lasted 1⅓ innings, allowing three earned runs on three hits and a walk with two strikeouts.
Tampa Bay then reinstated reliever Manuel Rodríguez from the injured list and removed Woodford from the 40-man roster. With only a few days left in the regular season, a claim is unlikely. He can become a free agent if he clears waivers.
Chicago already knows that transaction sheet. Woodford signed with the Cubs in early July after Milwaukee designated him.
He appeared in a handful of games for the North Siders, including a two-inning debut in which he allowed three runs. The Cubs DFA’d him on July 11, outrighted him to Iowa, then brought him back later in the month.
After two more appearances — three innings, three runs — they designated him again on Aug. 4. He elected free agency rather than accept another assignment to Iowa.
In other words, the Cubs used him the way many clubs have since his best years in St. Louis: as a long man who can eat innings when the bullpen is taxed, not as a high-leverage piece.
Between Milwaukee and Chicago this season, he posted a 7.18 ERA over 26⅓ innings before the Rays signed him to a minor-league deal on Aug. 10. Durham was a better chapter — a 4.25 ERA in seven starts — which is why Tampa called him up as September depth after clinching the AL East.
One rough night in the Bronx closed that window.
From a Cubs vantage point, Woodford’s year is a reminder of how thin the middle of a pitching staff can look in midsummer and how quickly those arms cycle off.
He was a first-round Cardinals pick in 2015 and still flashes the sinker-sweeper mix that produced a 2.23 ERA in 2022. The command and contact management have not followed. Career line through Friday: 11-17, 5.36 ERA, 193 strikeouts in 283⅔ innings across seven organizations.
If he wants another shot in 2027, the Cubs are not an obvious landing spot. Chicago’s bullpen picture for next spring will be built around established late-inning arms and younger options already on the 40-man.
Woodford’s value remains what it was in July: a veteran who can cover multiple innings on a minor-league deal if someone gets hurt. Friday’s DFA does not change that. It only adds Tampa Bay to a list Cubs fans already had him on.
