The bear is signing a right-handed Jack Woodford According to Steve Adams of MLBTR, a minor league deal was reached. Excel Sports Management client Woodford will head to Triple-A, Iowa, to start for that club tomorrow night.
Woodford, 28, just chose a minor league deal with the Yankees a few days ago. Prior to his exit, he recorded 39 2/2 innings for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in seven starts and three long-term relief appearances. He allowed 4.54 runs with a strikeout rate of 21.5%, a 9.4% walk rate and a 42.4% ground ball rate.
That’s not enough to be summoned to the Yankees. They suffered harm to beginners Gerrit Cole,,,,, Louis Gill and Marcus Stroman But guys like it Will Warren and Ryan Yarbrough The group was stabilized.
Currently, the cub has its own spin damage. Justin Steele,,,,, shota imanaga and Javier Assad All are currently on the injured list. Steele needs UCL surgery in April and will not be back this year. Make them spin Matthew Boyd,,,,, Jameson Taillon,,,,, Colin Rea,,,,, Ben Brown and Cade Horton. Boyd had a good year, but it was as high as 68 2/3 innings. The last time he played 79 times in a season was in 2019. Rea is a swingman who is injured and spins all the time. Horton is a big prospect, but has only had five major league appearances so far.
In terms of depth Chris Flexen It used to be three rotations, but now it’s in the big league bullpen. Jordan Wix Of 40 people, but this year Iowa’s 4.86. The Cubs may seek to start pitching before the deadline, but Woodford will give them an experienced arm if their rotation gets hurt again in the next few weeks.
He has had some success as a major league player in the past, mainly by keeping the ball on the ground. In the 2021 and 2022 Cardinals, he logged in 116 innings with 3.26 ERA. He only hit 15.4% of his opponents, but let the opponent hit the ball in the dirt with a 45.6% cut. His era soared to 6.23 in 2023, pushing him to Circuit mode. Last year, he released a 7.97 ERA between the White Sox and the Pirates. In 2025, he signed a minor league contract with the Rockies but opted out at the end of the spring. This led to his Yankee deal, which he chose.
Photo courtesy of Rick Scuteri, Imagn Images
