The Milwaukee Brewers have a decision to make on Brandon Woodruff before the World Series starts on Friday.
On Thursday, Brewers manager Pat Murphy confirmed, per The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Curt Hogg, that the team has not made a decision yet, but that Woodruff "threw the ball well" on Tuesday, when he faced hitters for the first time since his injury.
He faced hitters for the first time, pitching against Jackson Chourio, Brice Turang, Christian Yelich, William Contreras and Jake Bauers.
Woodruff has missed a ton of time with a shoulder injury this year, but when he was pitching, he was very good. He was supposed to get season-ending shoulder surgery, but miraculously started healing and avoided that. He began throwing, hoping to be ready to return at some point.
The difficult decision for the Brewers with Woodruff is the fact that the rules may not allow him to be replaced if he is placed on the roster and reaggravates his injury. The rules state that a player can be replaced on a postseason roster only if he suffers an acute, non-chronic injury or ailment, and to Murphy's understanding, Woodruff would not be able to be replaced if he is re-injured, per MLB.com's Adam McCalvy.
If Woodruff is limited to a one-inning role, the Brewers would have to replace someone on the roster for him, and could be giving up some length. Chad Patrick and Kyle Harrison have been on the National League Division Series and National League Championship Series rosters, but have not pitched yet.
Woodruff could easily replace one of them if the Brewers think he's ready and think the injury won't resurface. However, Patrick and Harrison can give Murphy multiple innings, and it's unclear if Woodruff can do that right now.
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