The Chicago Cubs signed right-hander Jake Woodford to a major league contract Saturday, addressing a pitching staff gutted by season-long injuries. MLB Trade Rumors’ Steve Adams was first to report the deal.
Woodford lands in Chicago just two days after he triggered an opt-out clause in his minor league contract with the Milwaukee Brewers, a fast turnaround that only serves to demonstrate how thin the Cubs’ rotation and bullpen have become.
Woodford, 29, was a compensatory first-round pick of the Cubs’ archrivals, the St. Louis Cardinals, in the 2015 MLB Draft, selected 39th overall out of Tampa, Florida. He turned down a commitment to the University of Florida to sign, and he made his big league debut with St. Louis in 2020.
Woodford’s Route From Cardinals to Cubs
Since his debut, Woodford has bounced through five organizations, including the Arizona Diamondbacks, Pittsburgh Pirates and Chicago White Sox. Across 127 career games, Woodford has posted an 11-17 record with a 5.25 ERA, never quite good enough to hold down a big league job in the long term.
But Woodford has shown flashes along the way of what made him a first-round pick. Woodford worked to a 3.99 ERA over 67 2/3 innings for the Cardinals in 2021, then followed that up in 2022 with a 2.23 ERA across 48 1/3 innings, mostly out of the bullpen. Those seasons remain the high points of an otherwise up-and-down career.
This marks his second stint in the Cubs organization. He spent time at Triple-A Iowa last summer before opting out and signing with Arizona. His most recent big league look came with Milwaukee, where he worked 23 1/3 relief innings and posted a 6.94 ERA before his early-June designation for assignment.
Cubs’ Pitching Injuries Create Opening
Chicago’s pitching staff has been ravaged by injuries all season, starting with former No. 2 overall prospect Cade Horton, who underwent UCL surgery in April and will miss all of 2026. Justin Steele remains sidelined after his own elbow procedure, and Matthew Boyd only recently returned from knee surgery.
Jameson Taillon and Edward Cabrera are both on the injured list with hamstring strains, and Ben Brown is out indefinitely with a neck stress reaction. The bullpen has been hit just as hard. Daniel Palencia, Shelby Miller, Hoby Milner and Phil Maton are all sidelined, and Porter Hodge is done for the year after Tommy John surgery.
Despite the attrition, the Cubs entered the weekend at 49-38, good for second place in the National League Central. As a staff, Chicago has posted a 4.23 ERA across 774 1/3 innings this season. Shota Imanaga has gone 5-6 with a 4.30 ERA over 17 starts, while Colin Rea has logged a 4.74 ERA in 18 appearances, carrying much of the workload among the healthy starters.
Woodford’s minor league track record makes him at least a reasonable bet. Over 11 seasons in the minors, he has gone 41-48 with a 3.93 ERA across 818 innings, a workhorse résumé built almost entirely on volume and durability rather than dominance.
Woodford offers length and roster flexibility at a moment when the Cubs have neither to spare, giving manager Craig Counsell another arm capable of eating innings behind a staff that keeps losing arms to the injured list.
With the trade deadline approaching in about a month, Chicago’s front office is expected to keep hunting for pitching help beyond depth signings like Woodford’s.
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