Woodruff is under arbitration control for one remaining season and was initially seen as a possible trade candidate this winter given his rising arb price tag.  His shoulder surgery ended any chance of a trade, but it create some chance that the Brewers could non-tender Woodruff altogether.  That said, the Brew Crew might also look to sign Woodruff to some type of lower-cost two-year contract, allowing him time to recover and then hopefully be ready for a full season in 2025.  The two-time All-Star hasn’t yet spoken with the team about any kind of contract or his injury situation in general, but since “the season isn’t over yet,” he figures those conversations will eventually come.  Woodruff’s preference is definitely to stay put, as “I’ve been so lucky to be with one organization and basically one coaching staff my whole career….I fit in so well with that city and this organization that my hope is that I will be a Brewer for a long time.  That’s what I want.”

More from around the NL Central….

• Injuries and inconsistency hampered the Cubs’ bullpen late in the season, contributing to the team’s subsequent fall out of the playoff race in September.  Relief pitching figures to be a target area for Chicago this winter, but Sahadev Sharma and Patrick Mooney of The Athletic don’t believe this season’s outcome will change the front office’s aversion to heavy investments in the bullpen, given how relievers can run so hot or cold from year to year.  Some more experienced arms will be sought out, but with “an emphasis on finding veteran relievers who have had some success in the past — or flashed the potential to put it all together — but haven’t done it consistently or recently enough to command a multiyear contract.”
• The Rangers’ Mike Maddux and the Diamondbacks’ Brent Strom are the opposing pitching coaches for the World Series, and Jeff Jones of the Bellville News-Democrat notes the bittersweet nature of this matchup for the Cardinals, considering that both coaches used to be employed in the St. Louis organization.  Maddux was the team’s pitching coach from 2018-22 before joining the Rangers last winter, and Strom worked for St. Louis from 2007-13, including a stint as the Cards’ minor league pitching coordinator.  Considering that the Cardinals’ pitching faltered in 2023 and they’re now planning to overhaul their rotation this winter, Jones observes that “whatever changes come in the staffing of player and pitching development will likely take the form of attempting to re-capture some of what was already in house and departed.”

Maddux, 61, is among the game’s most experienced and respected pitching coaches. A veteran of 15 Major League seasons himself — and the older brother of Hall of Famer Greg Maddux, of course — the elder Maddux brother retired in 2000 and has served as a Major League pitching coach every year since 2003. Maddux enjoyed a six-year stint with the Brewers before spending seven years as the Rangers’ pitching coach, two as the Nationals’ pitching coach and most recently, five seasons as the Cardinals’ pitching coach.

Maddux’s return is the latest step in an organizational shakeup that saw manager Chris Woodward and longtime president of baseball operations Jon Daniels ousted over the summer. Veteran manager Bruce Bochy was recently named the new skipper in Arlington, with former big league outfielder Will Venable — who’s been fast rising through the MLB coaching ranks — brought aboard as the organization’s “associate manager.” The Rangers announced back in early October that co-pitching coaches Doug Mathis and Brendan Sagara would not return next season, and in recent days, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News had reported that Maddux was emerging as a prime candidate to reprise the role he held in Texas from 2009-15.

Turning to Moore, his appointment as a senior advisor to general manager Chris Young will give Young some valuable experience from which to draw. Young only retired as a pitcher himself following the 2017 season, and after a quick stop working in the league’s central offices, he was tabbed as the Rangers’ GM, working underneath Daniels.

That arrangement lasted fewer than three seasons, and Young is now in the midst of his first offseason as the primary baseball operations decision-maker with any organization. He’ll still have autonomy when it comes to roster decisions, of course, but Moore can speak from a place of experience while providing guidance. The pair are already familiar with one another, as Young spent the final three seasons of his 13-year Major League career pitching for Moore’s Royals.

In a situation not entirely dissimilar to the Rangers’ front office shakeup, Moore found himself relieved from his duties as Kansas City’s president of baseball operations just a few months ago. Daniels had been running baseball operations for Texas since 2005, while Moore was tabbed as Kansas City’s GM a year later, in 2006. Both were replaced by in-house general managers who were ascending to that post for the first time: Young in Texas, and longtime Moore lieutenant J.J. Picollo in Kansas City. Daniels has since been named a senior advisor to the Rays’ baseball operations department.

It’s feasible that Moore will again pursue a position of greater prominence in a different organization’s front office, but for the time being, he’ll bring more than 30 years of scouting acumen and nearly 20 years of experience running his own baseball operations outfit to the Rangers as they gear up for what’s expected to be a second consecutive aggressive offseason. Texas cannonballed into the deep end of the free-agent pool last offseason, signing Corey Seager, Marcus Semien and Jon Gray for a combined $556MM. Now, after vastly overhauling their front office and dugout leadership, they’re expected to aggressively pursue top-of-the-market starting pitching and have already been connected to the likes of Jacob deGrom, Carlos Rodon and Kodai Senga.

Speculation regarding a potential Verdugo trade comes as the Red Sox are in need of some help in the outfield. As currently constructed, Verdugo and Kiké Hernandez are Boston’s only outfield locks. Rob Refsnyder and Jarren Duran are decent depth options, but don’t provide as much thump as external options perhaps would, and a Verdugo-Hernandez-Refsnyder/Duran combo would leave Boston’s outfield lacking in offensive firepower. If the Red Sox do trade Verdugo, it would probably come after Boston goes out and gets someone on the free agent market or via trade to lock down a corner outfield spot. Verdugo could fetch the Sox a decent return, and may be flipped to improve Boston’s bullpen, which struggled in 2022. With Verdugo set for a pay raise in his second year of arbitration, it will not be entirely surprising if Chaim Bloom decides to move on from one of the centerpieces of Boston’s return from the Mookie Betts trade.

Some other news from around the AL:

• Mike Maddux is interested in rejoining the Rangers as their pitching coach, reports Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. The Rangers fired Doug Mathis and re-assigned Brendan Sagara, who had served as co-pitching coaches for 2022, less than twenty-four hours after the end of the 2023 season. Maddux previously served as Rangers pitching coach from 2009 to 2015, and recently left his post as pitching coach of the Cardinals. Grant notes that Maddux lives in the Dallas area, adding that the Rangers could pair a veteran coach, like Maddux, with someone else who is “more in tune with biomechanics and the art of pitch design” to co-lead the Rangers staff.
• Brady Williams, manager of Triple-A Durham for the Rays, will be promoted to big league staff as part of the fall out from the Royals’ managerial hiring of former Rays bench coach Matt Quatraro, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. With Quatraro out, third base coach Rodney Linares is expected to become the new bench coach. It is unclear as to what role Williams will assume with the Rays in what will be his first opportunity to coach in the big leagues. Williams has spent his entire coaching career within the Rays organization, managing at Short-Season Hudson Valley, Single-A Bowling Green, Advanced-A Charlotte, and Double-A Montgomery, as well as Durham before getting the call to the majors.

Mozeliak said he was willing to offer both Maddux and Albert new contracts, per Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat. He adds that Maddux is stepping away after a long career, but does not say that the veteran pitching coach is retiring. On Albert, Mozeliak says the hitting coach grew “frustrated” by the frequency with which he “took blame”, particularly among social media comments, for the team’s hitting struggles.

Maddux, 61, joined the Cardinals ahead of the 2018 season after previously spending two seasons as the Nationals pitching coach. The older brother of Hall of Fame pitcher Greg Maddux, Mike enjoyed a 14-year playing career before retiring in 2000. He began his coaching career in the Astros organization, before landing his first big league coaching gig with the Brewers. He stayed there until 2008 before joining the Rangers and then Nationals.

Albert, 41, initially began as a hitting coach in the Cardinals’ minor league system. He was signed by the Astros to be their minor league hitting coordinator before they promoted him to assistant hitting coach on the major league club in 2018. He lasted there a year before the Cardinals brought him back ahead of the 2019 season to serve as hitting coach.

Eversgerd, 53, has been in the Cardinals organization since 2001, and served as their bullpen coach since 2018.

The Cardinals now have four open positions on their coaching staff, after bench coach Skip Schumaker landed the Marlins manager job.

Maddux, 56, has been a big league pitching coach dating back to the 2003 season. He spent six seasons in that role with the Brewers (2003-08) before moving on to occupy that position with the Rangers (2009-15) and Nationals (2016-17). The older brother of Hall of Famer Greg Maddux, Mike has developed a reputation as one of baseball’s best pitching minds after a successful 15-year playing career and now another 15 years as a big league pitching coach.

More from around the game:

• The Cubs’ firing of pitching coach Chris Bosio on Saturday was manager Joe Maddon’s decision, Paul Sullivan and Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune report. Maddon’s relationship with Bosio deteriorated as the season progressed, per Sullivan and Gonzales, who add that Mike Maddux and the previously reported Jim Hickey are candidates to serve as the Cubs’ next pitching coach. Maddux was the Nationals’ pitching coach over the past two years, but his time with the club ended with manager Dusty Baker’s exit. Hickey, meanwhile, is also on the Cardinals’ radar, according to Sullivan and Gonzales.
• Rangers general manager Jon Daniels will enter a contract year in 2018, but he told Jeff Wilson of the Star-Telegram and other reporters on Friday that he has “no desire to go anywhere.” Daniels’ hope is to land an extension, though neither he nor members of the Rangers’ ownership group commented on whether a new deal is in the works. The 40-year-old has been in his post since October 2005, making him the second-longest tenured GM in the game behind the Yankees’ Brian Cashman, and has helped construct five playoff teams and two pennant winners (2010 and ’11). The 2017 season wasn’t a success for the Daniels-led Rangers, however, as they finished 78-84. Daniels is still optimistic, though, saying: “This was not a fun year, just the variety of things that we dealt with, but what it illuminated was getting back to the things that are fun. Being creative, finding new ways to compete, finding different competitive advantages, circling the wagons and building with our people.”
• The Red Sox are an “obvious” fit for Tony La Russa, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe observes. La Russa, who’s set to exit the Diamondbacks’ front office at the end of the month, has a longstanding relationship with Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski, Cafardo points out. La Russa spoke glowingly of Boston’s front office leader, telling Cafardo, “There’s nobody in baseball I respect more than Dave Dombrowski.” Both La Russa’s friendship with Dombrowski and his vast experience in baseball could make him a candidate for an advisory role with the Sox. When asked about the possibility, Dombrowski said, “We’ll see.”