The Red Sox announced that they have released right-hander Walker Buehler. That the corresponding move for the Sox to select prospect Payton Tolle, a move which was reported yesterday. The Sox also optioned outfielder Jhostynxon García and recalled infielder Nick Sogard. Chris Cotillo of MassLive reported Buehler’s release prior to the official announcement.
The Sox signed Buehler to a one-year, $21.05MM deal in the offseason. That was a bet on a bounceback. Buehler had been an ace earlier in his career with the Dodgers. He finished 9th in National League Cy Young voting in 2019 and then fourth in 2021. However, he required Tommy John surgery in 2022, the second of his career. He was back on the mound in 2024 but wasn’t as sharp, posting a 5.38 earned run average.
He didn’t have a ton of momentum going into free agency but helped his cause somewhat with a decent playoff performance. He tossed 15 innings in the postseason last year with a 3.60 ERA, including getting the final outs in Game Five against the Yankees.
The Sox pushed in some chips with the hope of Buehler being better in 2025 but it didn’t pay off. He made 22 starts for the Sox with a 5.40 ERA, almost an exact match for his regular season work last year. He only struck out 16.5% of batters faced while giving out walks at a 10.8% clip. He averaged 94 miles per hour on his fastball, one tick below last year and a few ticks below his prime, when he was in the 96-97 mph range.
Clearly, the Sox ran out of patience. He was bumped to the bullpen a week ago. He made one long relief appearance on Sunday. They could have kept him around as a long reliever but rosters expand in September, giving every club an extra arm and a bit less need for someone to be on mop-up duty.
By cutting Buehler loose now, they are giving him a chance to land somewhere else. He will be postseason eligible with a new club as long as he joins that new organization prior to September 1st. Given his performance and the roughly $3.4MM left on his contract, it feels unlikely that anyone would claim him off release waivers. The waiver process takes 48 hours. It’s unclear when exactly the Sox started that process. If they did it after last night’s game, perhaps Buehler could be a free agent by Saturday night. That would give him about 24 hours to sign somewhere else. If they are just putting him on the wire now, then the timeline is tighter, though it’s likely that his agent will be fielding calls from interested clubs while the waiver process plays out.
Assuming he does clear waivers, the Sox will remain on the hook for what remains of that salary. Another club could sign him and would only have to pay him the prorated portion of the major league minimum salary, with that amount subtracted from what the Sox pay. For a contending club need to patch a rotation hole, they might be tempted to take a free look at Buehler and hope to strike gold.
For the Sox, they are going into the stretch in decent position. They have a record of 75-60. They are just 3.5 games back of the Blue Jays in the American League East. They have the top Wild Card spot and are 5.5 games ahead of the Royals, the top non-playoff team in the A.L. With still a lot of meaningful games left, they have decided Buehler isn’t one of their horses. They head into the final few weeks of the season with Garrett Crochet as their clear ace, backed up by Lucas Giolito, Brayan Bello and Dustin May. They are giving Tolle a shot at taking a spot and also have Kyle Harrison in Triple-A, if needed.
Photos courtesy of Brian Fluharty, Gregory Fisher, Imagn Images
The year he was having was not worth that contract at all. I wonder if the Dodgers lend any thought to re-signing him, since they only have to pay the minimum.
Dodgers can literally never have enough arms because they have entire rotations on the IL
Who would’ve thought they would have to have guys like Matt sauer throw 111 pitches in relief
Dodgers rotation is currently as healthy as it has been in many years…
Low bar if we’re FR
Jersey – Don’t jinx it! LOL!!
They’ve all got a history of injury, let’s not push our luck!
FPG
What a disappointment Buehler was. I admit I liked the signing at the time. I thought the timing was right for his return to quality after his injury. A good playoff performance solidified my reasoning. He was really good for a couple of seasons. Maybe in time he will find his groove again.
Dodgers staff is almost back to 100%. Going to be tough to find a spot even with the expanded roster but it’s easy to not look at the roster and regurgitate talking points from May
Shots fired!
I gotta believe this was mutual in the timing. Good luck Walker who despite failed results tried to deliver.
dewey – You probably heard, Buehler did not take kindly to the bullpen demotion, and he did not take kindly to being pulled after just 4 innings and 75 pitches of 2-run ball against Baltimore.
We all know Buehler is a highly emotional and temperamental player, but when you aren’t a team player willing to accept a demotion then you won’t be on the team for very long. Raffy tried to set an example for him, he accepted the demotion from 3B to DH with class. It’s unfortunate Buehler couldn’t do the same, because I do think he still had some value.
You think devers handled the transition to DH with class? Outright refusing and airing his frustration to the media rather than differing to the clearly superior fielder in Bregman was classy?
Devers knew he mishandled the signing of A. Bregman when Buster Posey smacked him around and told him what was what. All you have to do is read the self-centered, big baby’s comments when a reporter asked him if he was willing to play 1B for SF.
Incredible take on Devers, Fever.
Your weird obsession with defending devers .
My god bootlick much
FPG
I respect your knowledge and passion about the Sox. We don’t agree on everything but there is a lot of common ground. This take about Devers is bordering on the absurd. I think as well as many other posters here do ,that it’s the exact opposite of which you stated. Tried to set an example….. with class….. Sure management could have handled it better, much better…. Devers refused to learn a position that would have helped the club immensely.. team player? No
He’s a troll.
Everyone knows both the Red Sox and Devers could have handled the whole situation much better. Both are equally at fault.
Fever, fully agree. Unfortunately, the same competitive edge that makes athletes great can also be their demise when they can’t accept reality. Over 100 innings is a good sample size and if the team was out of the playoffs, they could have given him more time to reestablish himself. I think he just needs more time to re-learn his command.
Lou, I beg to differ. 80% minimum on Devers. As I’ve said before, they did not know Bregman was signing so they tried to play nice with both camps. Once he signed, Devers’ agent blew it by not earning his commission and sitting him down. Moreover, where was the agent to mitigate the aftermath damage? A good agent would have shielded the player to the extent possible.
Darth – Sorry I’m late to reply.
You know what you wrote is a lie.
Refusing? No, he was blindsided by the media when they asked what he WOULD do. But when the team asked, he gracefully agreed. So why you lying bro? Are you trolling? 🤔
And I have no idea what you mean by differing to a superior fielder.
When are some of you Boston fans going to get over the Devers situation. He’s happy now. He wasn’t in Boston. You guy’s are playing well. Enjoy it and let the Devers issue go. You’ll feel better. We’re happy to have him
Cdc – I respect your opinion and always enjoy your posts. The thing is, I’ve provided so much in the past with links and quotes that show the vast majority of people involved in the game support my stance… people who, unlike someone such as Ortiz, have no reason for an ulterior motive. And yet all the links, articles, quotes I provided were all ignored by those I was having a discussion with.
And I haven’t seen any similar evidence from current players or reputable writers/sites saying different.
Regardless, time to Mo Vaughn and focus on this exciting playoff run … no?
Hes defending Devers because it helps go against his anti front office stance. That flips tho when it comes to free agency. At that point he becomes anti player and has a weird disdain for Boras, almost like a scorned lover.
I take all of his comments with a grain of salt. He clearly can bot put biased aside so nearly all comments of his lack any semblance of critical thinking.
My advice to you… “Mute” him. It makes reading these comments much more enjoyable.
If he signed a major league deal with the Dodgers, they’d hafta do quite a bit of roster manipulation to keep him on the staff with all the guys coming off the IL. Unless he signs a minor league deal, but I doubt it….
BoSox are paying him anyhow, so I doubt a minor league deal is a hard no for him.
But there I would guess that there’s some non-playoff teams that would like to give him a look.
Any deal with the Dodgers is fine if signed by tomorrow as it would allow them time to try to get him straight for the playoffs. He was released as a courtesy and even a minor league deal is fine. If they want to then activate him, 40 and 28 man spots would have to be opened.
Buehler is the next Ace for the Braves.
No…please no!!
Why not take a flier out. Why so emphatically opposed
Gee idk maybe his numbers were horrible and he’s been horrible gee I don’t know why he would Be imposed
I don’t know why the Sox offered him essentially a QO when the Dodgers didn’t. It made no sense to me at the time.
Like if you have a guy who might be worth it, you offer him a QO – see Pivetta and Martinez this past off-season.
Buehler might have bounced back. He didnt. Its a gamble and to say it was wrong now is complete hindsight.
Many, many people said it was a bad move when it happened.
Mostly due to his poor performance in the 2024 regular season.
Some guys bounce back. Some dont. He was elite before his injury. Nobody can predict injuries and how guys come back from them.
He was not elite in 2024. He had a full season. If the Dodgers didn’t even offer him a QO, it makes no sense for the Sox to offer him a similar deal. The Dodgers knew he was cooked.
The kind of gamble only high payroll teams can make.
The Dodgers gave Tyler Glassarm 120 million. They aren’t super smart they just spend a ton of money and are on the west coast which makes Japanese players want to play there. The Dodgers didnt know anything.
And it’s not like they needed him to beat the Yankees like the Dodgers did last year…
@joemo
i dont think anyone said he was elite in 2024 but said it was before his injury which was in mid 2022. He has not had a full season since 2021. when he was 4th in the cy young award and before when it looks like he got his injury in 2022 he was in the 2’s for era including a 3hit cg shutout about a monthish before that. .
Yep. It’s Henry’s M.O. He’ll bet big in the short term when he sees potential benefits.
A full season in 2024? Read much?
K.O.C. You know nothing, Buehler was awful in 2024 and the Dodgers said no thanks but you claim they know nothing. Sound argument.
I don’t think the Dodgers thought he was cooked. He wouldn’t have closed out the World Series if so. They already like 10 ML starting pitchers when they declined to QO. There was just no room for him.
16 starts is a “full season”?
Joemo: The Sox needed pitching much more than the Dodgers did.1 team needed him a lot more, thus the contract gamble.
Agree with King. Of. Cards.
Just because he wasn’t elite in 2024, doesn’t take away the talent he possesses. the stuff and ceiling is enough for teams to attempt extracting what he had before. That’s not even to mention the state of pitching today, the skyrocketing salaries or trade costs to aquire even average pitchers.
Checkbook baseball huh
Joel – That’s why Red Sox Nation said it during ST, immediately after the signing.
Go back and look at the posts, the signing was cocky poopoo doodoo (trying to use a language you’d understand here).
They also draft and develop players extremely well. They just don’t spend money.
And what makes you say they didn’t know anything about their OWN pitcher that they had in their system for 10 years and helped rehab?
Lol….yeah, the only reason Japanese players want to play in Los Angeles is because it is close to Japan.
EP… Did you know Walter O’Malley had police physically remove the homeowners in Elysian Park and then bull-dozed their houses to build Dodger Stadium? Maybe that’s why Japanese players love to play in LA?
Gee maybe the red flag was the dodgers moving on from him
Also, despite the high ERA and lack of command, he did provide innings that allowed others to rest or develop. I realize others could have done the same thing but staying healthy is big. Fortunately, the team is deeper than in years past as otherwise he might be starting today…
That is not true. While the residents of Elysian Park were treated shamefully, that was done by the city, which had plans for a different project. When that project fell through, the land was offered to the Dodgers.
Oh, yes, the owner who never spends, yet somehow managed to win four WS. Cry me a river.
Because it’s just money and it’s just for 1 year and they needed an arm with upside.
But it’s not just money lol. His poor performance and short outings overtaxed the bullpen and affected not only the game he pitched, but future games. This was obvious to anyone who saw him pitch last year or looked at his overall numbers.
Is Sandy Alcantara finished?
Is Zac Gallen?
You dont know. You dont know squat.
I love how people say they argued against signing him so they were right. I’ll flip a coin and if they say heads and it lands heads they were right. Big whoop.
Buehler was a calculated risk and the Red Sox had the money to take the risk. Did he ruin their season? Hardly. Could they have gotten some other pitcher for the same money? Sure. Would he have done better than Buehler? Maybe.
Are the Red Sox having a bad season? No.
agreed whyhayzee
I thought he would be good for atleast number 4/5 with a lot of upside that could even be ace level if it was still injury recovery last year.
A one year deal at an elevated dollar is usually not a horrible thing. Its betting on the upside. If he was solid to good even if you didnt sign an extension you could QO him but you didnt lose prospects, nothing future committed so you have flexibility, and if i recall he didnt really hold back any top prospects. or even try him out of the bullpen for long man / mop up guy.
Obvious? Did you watch the WS?
hayzee – Do you also believe school exams shouldn’t be graded and little league games shouldn’t keep score?
Sorry dude but looks like you’re trying to make wine out of sour grapes.
dewey – You know you’re one of my favorites my friend, but 6 total innings in 2 WS games is hardly a barometer.
What about the 6 runs in 5 innings of the ALDS?
What about the 5.38 ERA in 75 regular season innings?
Let’s face it, the Sox thought they were geniuses who identified talent in Buehler and believed they could “fix” him. It failed incredibly.
Track record matters.
For some of us it was more about the disappointment of settling for Walker when all of the other big names with better numbers had been rumored to be on the Sox wishlist. Walker seemed like he was near the bottom of the list and I was far more familiar with some of the other names who had been having much greater success going into the offseason.
I am surprised they released him, even if he was unhappy about the move to the bullpen, as he still provided depth to the starting rotation. It was not like he was terrible every time he started, probably closer to 50% of the time he struggled (I am sure someone knows the stats).
Definitely will go done as wasted money, but was not the first and won’t be the last bad contract. Thank goodness it was not for multiple years.
U don’t either
KOC
Walker was trending negatively in hard hit%, line drive% and his K% nosedived in 2022 at age 27.
Fast-forward to late 2024 facing a QO decision when the Dodgers have hindsight and insight we don’t have. Wrong side of 30, already got his peak and 2 rings. QO decision is not whether he can be a “comeback” player for one year before he’s cooked. It does not matter if he does, the truth is he’s peaked and it’s not worth the pick and $21-million. 17 of that is Conforto cash.
Fever, I’ve helped grade actuarial exams. Look them up if you don’t know what they are. I kept all my little league stats. I knew my BA, OB, SP; this is way before the analytics caught up. No, I wasn’t smarter than those people but I sure had a clue before I was 10 years old. And just to age myself, I used a slide rule or I did the math by hand; no calculators.
Buehler’s issue simply is command. It’s a difficult concept to digitize into data. How would you know where he wanted the pitch to go? When I watch a game I sometimes call pitch and location, practically yell it at the tv. When it’s executed, I’ve almost never seen it fail.
It’s not that hard to get batters out with proper execution. That’s the beauty of the game. But baseball always has favored the batter, the man at a disadvantage. That’s fine until it goes too far. And it often does and we see the result.
Being a pitcher in today’s game is as unhealthy as about anything in all of sports.
Hayzee – I used an abacus, look it up ;o)
So then why do you refuse to give credit to those who correctly said stay away from Buehler?
Just curious, Fever—didn’t you and many others also say stay away from Giolito?
Stel – Yes, both Story and Giolito I strongly said to stay away from signing because of existing injury concerns and a recent decline in performance.
And guess what? Prior to this season I said both would likely perform well after shaking off the rust.
Situations change, imagine that!
” I sometimes call pitch and location, practically yell it at the tv. When it’s executed, I’ve almost never seen it fail.”
You’re a god damned genious! A savant!
Imagine (claiming) usually being right about a batter getting out in a sport where batters usually get out. And on pitches to specific locations! How often are you calling middle-middle?
They weren’t wrong but it’s not that hard to say one thing or another and be right. My wife once yelled “drop it” at the tv and the guy did. So there’s that case of being right. What was the opportunity cost? Did they miss out on someone better? We don’t know. You never know in baseball whether you are truly right. You can make a well educated guess, but there’s way too many variables to flatly state you were right. It’s chest pounding and l leave that to the Yankee fans. They can have it.
I have jazz hands too. I’m a professional double bassist. But I’m not a savant. I was watching the Yankees with a fan and I said, “Don’t walk Jeter, just hit him.” And the pitcher did and I never heard the end of it. Why waste four pitches when you can do the job with one?
FPG
How about Tolle last night!! That was exciting. He pitched very well. He had Fenway up.
I know he got a couple hits but that last pitch Rafaela swung at might have been 18 inches outside. The pitch before that was called a strike and was 6 inches inside. I do like Rafaela but he swings at some bad pitches.
Cdc – I totally agree with all.
Tolle reminds me a lot of Joba, very imposing. First 7? pitches were all strikes. There is no book on him at any level, hopefully he will be able to adjust after opposing hitters do. I also like how he ignored Wongs calls. 🙁
Yes that first pitch to Rafaela was definitely low. And after he struck out on that far outside pitch, the camera zoomed in on two women who held their ✋️ 🤚 far apart laughing and mocking him. It was pretty funny! That’s why teams pitch to him way outside the strike zone, they expect him to chase.
@14thor He was pitching with a torn UCL in 2022. When a ligament in elbow is torn it tends to have a negative impact on pitchers. Did you think they were going through TJS and the grueling recovery just for the hxll of it?
@whyhayzee I think both Gwynn and Maddux would disagree. Maddox had quite a difficult time getting Gwynn out and has spoke openly about it.
Baseball does not favor the batter either never has. Each pitch starts with the pitcher and the batter is in a reactionary state. That has not changed and til it does the game favors the pitcher.
Even if a player has proper execution that does not make it easy to get outs. They also need talent and skill to execute. Knowing what to throw and when is very important, as well as the locating pitches while throwing it very hard. Doing all that against the best players in the world is not easy by any means .
Tiger look at his career trend in the aforementioned numbers from 2020 then if you like. Same results, all those numbers have gone downhill pre UCL and never recovered.
So you want to just skip over 2021 and say the year prior was a trend that took a break for a year????
Come on thats just ridiculous to try and pull that instead of conceding that your initial claim did jot factor in that he had a.major elbow injury in 2022.
You are missing my point. Like I said earlier, it doesn’t matter. What is his realistic outlook ultimately? He bounces back for what, a year or two at best? I don’t see anything to suggest he recovers his peak velocity. His command is weak too so he’s not going to get things working this season. I am defending the Dodgers choice to let him walk, and don’t see them refusing him last year only to bring him back with no better numbers.
Your point means nothing as its false. You said he was in decline in 2020 and then has a great season in 2021, that completely negates what you were getting at as well as any pattern.
No, 2020 is the small sample. Continue as you like but the proof is in the fact the Dodgers wanted nothing to do with the guy despite your outcry to use 2021 as barometer for his 2026 outlook. You won’t see better Buehler than he’s already given the organization. Your conversation works for 28 other teams but how do you see 24-25 and still want to sign up for that? He’s more comparable to Noah Syndergaard than his peak years.
You are using 2020 as a pattern of decline. He went out the next season and his production and talent increased. That renders any continuity in decline nonexistent. And yes I keep mentioning 2021 as it comes after 2020….
Joe
“I don’t know why the Sox offered him essentially a QO when the Dodgers didn’t. It made no sense to me at the time.”
Different teams value players differently
Pads…he was released. Next team will sign him for the minimum for a bounce back chance for next year. Braves make a lot of sense
Could have sworn you were pondering if he’d take an assignment. Either way, doesn’t matter. The release was already complete before your post. He’s not pending release on the waiver line. No one is saying anyone would pick up the money…because obviously they didn’t. So you going on about the fact in hindsight does nothing for the conversation. You’re just spelling out things that everyone already knows
Everyone knows the 48 hour timetable. Believe it or not…articles on here aren’t entirely 100% accurate. Do a quick Google for if he’s released or still on waivers. They made the move as to have the full 48 window before the 1st to hopefully entice a desperate team.
No need to apologize. Condescending ignorance is expected
It depends if someone with a worse record puts a claim 9n him first.
Holy crap,
Dodgers should be all over that
He’s done
Thanks but no thanks!
i agree. costs nothing but a roster spot and Ferris has some big moments left. he knows its bp or bust. a couple of big outs here and there. we all know he has it in him.
There isn’t any room for Buehler even with the extra roster spot in September. When Vesia, Stewart and Kopech come back, they’d hafta option Sheehan to keep him on the staff. And not even taking Sasaki into account….
Roster spots have value. Right now, Walker isn’t worth one.
Didn’t he have 6 era with the Dodgers last year? Sure he did ok in relief in the postseason but ..not sure he’d be one of thier 14 best pitchers if he isn’t one of bostons
Seems like he only wanted to be a starter.So he wasn’t in the top 5 of their pitchers.
Shelby Miller 2.0
To be clear, rotation is set but could put him in the bullpen and be a long reliever and see how he does. As we know, 10 short months ago he won Game 3 and helped close out the WS at Yankee Stadium and was nails.
Those Yankees got him pretty good less thank a week ago …10 months is a long time ago now..sox thought they had the guy from that world series game as well…
Not sure about that. I’m thankful for his contributions over the years and postseason success last year but he was bad for most of 2024 and that continued in 2025.
One could make the argument that his limited success in postseason was off of a tiny sample size (10 innings to be exact) as his first start against the Padres in NLDS was bad.
Yaaaa dodgers should be in on a guy with a era almost 6 good take genius
Hes been really good in the playoffs
Really good in the playoffs
True but most recent postseason success was last year on only 10 innings. The first 5 innings was terrible versus the Padres. And prior to 2024 you have to go back to 2021 postseason and he wasn’t good that year in postseason. Allowing 10 ERs in 18.1 innings.
At this point it would be an absolute gamble for a postseason team to give him a precious postseason roster spot. You’d really have to be in a very desperate SP situation. Similar to the Dodgers in 2023.
I think a lot of pitching needy teams will be after him for the minimum. The Red Sox are battling for a playoff spot and felt they had much better options available.
I know he’s been awful but I’m still surprised by this
Hes been really good in the playoffs
Really good in the playoffs
I said it at the time, don’t sign him; he’ll be a waste of money.
He is the man absolutely none of us could’ve predicted that Walker would not win a cy young in 2025
Should I draft Christian Mccaffery? Spend my life savings on doge coin?
Wait until Powell is gone
It was because of his performance in the postseason he got 18 million with 3 million buyout… absolutely shut down the Mets then Yankees and saved the final game of the series. Im surprised Boston didnt hold onto him for his big stage MOJO…
I know you can’t have enuf pitching but Dodgers have no room on the staff for Walker. He’s not about to accept a minor league deal.
Yeah especially when Vesia, Stewart and Kopech come back. There’ll be a serious roster crunch coming….
His statcast page is horrendous. I’m not sure why a competing team like the Dodgers would even consider him.
I understand it, but it’s still surprising.
What a horrible signing by the Red Sox they’re thanking the heavens it was only for a year
And that’s what makes it not a horrible signing. Calling Corbin Burnes….
And Mike Hampton ….
Braves!
Braves or Twins
He would be looking for a post-season opportunity, so neither would apply.
I think he’s more likely to be looking for an opportunity to start a few more games down the stretch and prove he still has something in the tank to rebuild even a little bit of his value for next season. Braves would be a great spot for him.
Ridiculous move…. you don’t release an arm that can help you… even if it is for an inning or two… at this time of the year
Do we really call what Buehler has been doing “help”? I’d rather keep Bernardino (the most likely to be sent down otherwise imo) on the roster as a viable LH relief arm than keep Buehler around for mop-up duty.
5.45 ERA with an even higher FIP. Guy is not “helping”.
Helpful to the extent of coming in a game and giving innings when the outcome has already been determined…. saving other arms in the BP to not have to be used.
You’re right, you don’t release an arm that can help you.
They have better options because Buehler has been that bad.
How helpful is a dude with an ERA and FIP over 6.00 since the start of June?
Actually you do if you think you have better pitchers more deserving of the roster spot elsewhere in your system.
I dont see how Buehler is helping anyone in 2025. Maybe he bounces back but the safe bet is hes toast and will never be the same. A contender cant afford to risk it.
This was absolutely the right move
Horrible take Coop… This is a brilliantly proactive move that shows they’re legitimately trying to field the best postseason team possible regardless of how much money someone’s being paid.
Yep… horrible accept when the Brewers sign him and fix him just like they fixed Priester….. or he ends up on the Yankees.
His stuff is still good…. its just mechanical.
High on Pine Tar…….The Phillies need a starter to give them innings…. just watch DD pick him up and he is pitching in the playoffs and helping them.
Buehler has no idea where his pitches are going. One or two starts… ok, let’s see if he can work it out. He’s been all over the place all year long.
It was an expensive gamble, but I was on board with the signing. They’re in contention now and can’t afford his inconsistency. Walker be walkin’….
He’s not the kind of guy that would have taken the move to the bullpen with grace. I’m sure he was pissed off and has been making a stink all week.
Forget the Dodgers and other teams need a chance to pick him up
Braves need to be all over this
Why? They aren’t competitive and aren’t likely to be looking for guys to take rebound fliers on in 2026 (they will likely be looking for more of a sure thing, and though they make take a chance on a guy as another rotation option, Walker will need to be guaranteed innings probably). They get Sale back today. They have a 5 man rotation even if they cut Quantrill. Sure they could put Elder in AAA but what would be the point of that switch? One guy whose still in the organization going down for a pitcher having an awful year who will likely never pitch on your team again anyway. Not to mention he made a start against your team and yelled about 25 of the loudest F-bombs right into the mic at your home park. Probably irrelevant but it was unprofessional.
Maybe this will turn them off of reclaimination projects.
It probably won’t, we have Sandoval to look forward to, but we can hope.
I doubt it will turn them off completely. The buy-low, high-return model isn’t terrible as long as you hit on a few once in a while…which they haven’t.
If Bieber has a decent showing w TOR for the rest of this season, I’d say he’s a reclamation project worth pursuing.
You mean like Giolito?
Gio was healthy when they signed him. Why do people keep forgetting that?
I didn’t forget that. I’m not talking about the injury.
Did you forget he was 8-15 and had a 4.88 ERA, the year before they signed him? You’re either being disingenuous or you’re ignorant.
Nah, I think Joemo’s reference to reclamation projects meant Boston’s recent pattern of signing injured guys to weird 2 year deals (Paxton, Sandoval). That’s why I mentioned Bieber since whoever signs him will be taking a risk that he’s recovered… from his injury.
Just a misunderstanding. Its ok man.
Braves were in on him in the offseason and certainly could use the arm now. While filling that need, he can work out the kinks in a new environment and be a buy low(er) signing int eh off season if he regains his footing.
Not denying it but who said the Braves were “in on him”? I find we usually say these things later on and in fact what we are referencing was a (likely) bogus rumor thrown out there by an agents pet writer, or a speculative fan article.
Please bring him to Atlanta schwarbomb could use some more batting practice.
Schwarrbomb.
How adorable.
Didn’t they just use an Opener two nights ago? Listen, I know hes cooked, but it doesn’t make sense to just let him walk, u less hes hurt.
Breslow strikes again. This team is winning in spite of his constant mismanagement
One of the openers was Buehlers spot.
So now it’s
Crochet
Bello
Giolito
May
Tolle
Let’s see how it goes.
They used an opener because Fitts has struggled in the first inning a lot this year. They tried an opener for inning 1 and then bringing him in to see if that worked better. All became moot when he got injured but that was the reason for the opener, not a lack of a 5th starter.
Would you rather have him continue to blow games? Lol come on praise breslow for having the balls to make the tough moves
Swan-I still wonder if there was an underlying issue when they signed Gio. I remember people questioning his health based on his stats prior to them signing him. He went down so quickly after joining the Sox that you can’t eliminate the possibility that he had an injury prior to signing.
Glad he is having a great year for us after fully recovering. We would certainly not be in the playoff hunt without him.
Pool- Not sure why my comment about Gio ended up responding to you. I think I was trying to make multiple comments at the same time.
I was going to respond about Buehler. I agree that he had been terrible lately, but had some solid starts earlier. My only concern is if we have an injury or two to the rotation and desperately need a starter. Walker would potentially be a better option than the other pitchers available. Hopefully it won’t happen.
Sad Sox 3 ……Exactly…..
“Breslow strikes again”
I know man, dummy got the Red Sox Crochet, Bregman and Chapman.
What a loser.
Buehler has to be a better option in the pen than Hicks, at least?? This seems like a strange move. Seems like Buehler can contribute in short spurts of an inning or two.
Hicks is on a multi-year deal so there’s significantly less sunk cost cutting Buehler. I personally think that Hicks also has more upside as he settles back into a (sometimes multi-inning) relief role.
Buehler has an 8.18 ERA in the 1st inning this year, terrible sign for a reliever, and promptly gave up a 2-run bomb to the Yankees his first bullpen appearance.
He’s not .plus Hicks is signed long term
Agreed! Im not saying i want him im high leverage spots. Im saying it seems frivolous to kick him out of the organization
Should’ve done that in June
If they were so down on him… they should have traded him at the deadline. Some team like the Mets would have given something for him even if it was a lower level prospect… instead lets just release him….. Stupid
Now they have just let Buehler walk and the improvement they got at the deadline, May, looks to be just as bad.
I want Tibbs III back!
Neither could/can be trusted in high leverage situations. When you go 2-0 on every… single… batter…. you’re just asking for trubbs. Hicks has better stuff and livelier arm.
AC put Hicks in a tie game yesterday vs BAL. He walked a guy, but got out of it. Hopefully a sign of better things to come. If Hicks can reel it in and throw consistent strikes, this bullpen has a chance to be historical.
Had to be done for roster management. Wonder if there’s any chance he’d take an assignment to Worcester.
He wasn’t dfa’d. They’d have to re sign him. Doesn’t really make sense when there are plenty of mlb teams that could use an extra arm just to get through the season and to have a flier potentially going forward
I think he is going to join Noah Syndergaard on the long list of guys that didn’t make it back from TJ surgery. Keep them in mind when you think it’s OK just to “get the TJ surgery out of the way” for pitchers. It is not a 100% recovery rate.
It was Buehler’s second TJ surgery. He also underwent the procedure shortly after the Dodgers drafted him; the team was aware that this would be the case. Buehler was Andrew Friedman’s first-ever Dodgers draft pick, and it paid off big time.
Yes 2nd TJ is different than just 1. A lot of guys dont come back from the 2nd.
Go get him Dombrowski , perfect depth for the phillies after losing Wheeler.
If Buehler can’t put up better numbers than Jordan Romano then we would be truly living in a topsy turvy world indeed.
Have you watched bhuler recently?
We’ll always have striking out Verdugo.
Mets
What??!! Why??!! Where would they put him???
He could sit on top of the apple.
The choices were Hicks, Bernardino or Buehler. Hicks we still owe $24 million for 2026-27 so need to see what we can get out of him. Bernie has been pitching great and has a definite role in the pen and postseason. Walker not pitching well and not owed any money after this year. Only other thought was to send Bernie down and bring him back Monday with the two extra roster spots on 9/1 but we’ve sent him up and down a lot this year. And bottom line he’s been pitching better than Walker and it’s now go time!
Mets need starters, so do the Phillies. For prorated league minimum the Padres or Yankees might have interest as well
The Mets have five starters, plus Tong coming up today and Megill returning from rehab soon. Some of the starters are scuffling, but its hard to see Walker representing an upgrade over any of them.
Plus the Mets have a roster crunch – who would they cut to make room for Buehler? Just how many of those 8 starters (including Buehler) do you think they can move to the pen??
Can’t see the need or want for my Pads to pick-up Buehler…
Another well fought series Gwynny between two highly competitive teams!! Each game could have easily gone either way. I am starting to get an allergic reaction to Cronenworth, what a little nuisance & thorn he can be!! (Now we each need to reclaim 1st place and hold it !!!) Best of luck to the Padres, never count them out!
Nice series Iggy! I still hope we can meet in October… 😬
It only cost the Red Sox $21 million to prove that Buehler can’t pitch anymore.
It only cost the Mets a quadrillion billion gazillion dollars to find out Juan Soto is going to suck for 5 years starting at age 35. I think 21 million for some starting pitcher bounce back candidates and one single season is a good gamble in anyone’s book.
Plus, your username doesn’t match up with frowning about money spent on ball players?
Never a bad one-year contract. Dude is simply trolling.
It’s not that he can’t pitch, there were flashes of being really good in some starts. I just don’t think the AL East was the place for him to prove himself
Tigers should sign him for a minor commitment in the offseason. See if Chris Fetter can work a little magic, just not the Kenta kind.
I seriously thought he would have a great year even good
Angels coming in 5…4…
Twims sneaking up from the opposite side.
This needed to happen for Slaten to be activated
Moran was sent down for that. This was to add Tolle to the roster and to probably remove a problem before it started (if it hadn’t already)
The jerk is too proud to ever consider joining the Padres.
Hey, you actually might like San Diego, but your Dodger Blue loving “fraternity” may keep you from what might be a pleasant experience.
This goes for a majority of current and ex-Dodgers who are so blinded by their LA “older brother” conceit that they would never even consider joining the Padres.
Get over yourselves Dodgers and ex-Dodgers. I’m talking to you as well Justin Turner and Kike Hernandez.
San Diego is a nice place to play but your arrogance has blinded you from even considering what would be a great opportunity.
These Dodgers players live rent free in your head.
Your warm welcome will surely convince them to come play for San Diego. Job well done.
The Padres are the most arrogant and angry team in baseball. They have a former Dodger, the most hated player in baseball Mommy Machado
No more arrogant players than the poor sports, angry, arrogant, crybabies The Pudres, including former Dodger, most hated in baseball Mommy Mashito
A little triggered aren’t we.
A fan base secretly envious of Machado’s bravado.
Machado spurned you, LA, and your not used to that kind of rejection.
Lke the head cheer leader in Mean Girls rejected and hurt and vindictive in your retaliation LA.
You can’t believe someone chose San Diego over you.
Triggered? You came in with guns drawn. Hey it’s Labor Day weekend and three days off if we’re lucky. Time to watch some baseball and relax. Going to be fantastic.., especially tonight !!! Go Sox !!
No worries. Dodgers have been doing alright since Machado left. Besides, his self-confessed lack of hustle wouldn’t sit well in the clubhouse with real leaders like Betts, Freeman or Ohtani….
Let’s be honest Betts, Freeman and Ohtani fit the typical “classy” San Diego Padres player(see Tony Gwynn) while Manny(percieved to be cantankerous, Hollywood, star mentality) fits more of the LA Dodger mold.
So, Dodger fans can’t believe Manny out Dodgered the Dodgers while playing for the Padres, that goes for Tatis too.
I guess you don’t read much. After Mashito intentionally spiked a first baseman the fans in LA booed him every at bat. Management hated him. And the little thug knew it. The Dodgers has ZERO interest in him. Have you heard what Bob Melvin thought of him? Only fans of a team that hasn’t won a division in 20 years would want that parolee on their team. Maybe next year you’ll finally be able to sign Lyle Menendez
Don’t be the pot that calls the kettle black.
Machado is an amazing baseball player and talent. During his time in LA, his maturity wasn’t as developed as his game. When is was time to resign him or let him walk, they decided not to resign him.
During his time with the Padres you have seen him go from a young talented star to a mature leader.I personally am happy to have watched that journey for him. He was never a bad guy. He was just so talented he didn’t understand the grind.
One of the turning points in my opinion was having to confront Tatis for acting immature, which was a full circle moment for him. Since that point he’s been able to find the balance of work ethic and talent the Dodgers has hoped he could achieve during his time there.
I think it’s worked out for both the Dodgers and Machado.
PS. Yes he’s still emotional and it gets the better of him at times. Dodgers fans love to hate him, and he loves to perform well against the Dodgers.
I think it’s one of the better stories that will be told after he retires.
Machado is the Jaime Tartt of the MLB
Excellent take! Kudos and as far as Dodgers I have the utmost respect for Betts, Freeman and Ohtani are class acts. Kershaw too.
He ended Pedroia’s career. You remember that, don’t you?
well you’ll always have Steve “not my padre” Garvey to reminisce on
He’ll somehow end up being the winning pitcher for the Dodgers as they win another WS. Wish it turned out better. Go Sox!
The West Sacramento Athletics will sign him!
The Cubs should sign him and put him in the pen. A low risk move.
I guess he’ll have a few days off now.
Cora was as shocked as many here. Taking attendance at Breakfast. Buehller? Buehller? Crickets
That was a pretty poor bet
He needs to prove his value with a rebound 1 year deal
Red Sox screwed up
That’s literally what this contract was.
Are you serious
Name me one other rebound contract over 20 million dollars
Rebound contracts are supposed to be LOW
His playoff performance and history absolutely warranted it. Also this is 2025 not 2005, 20 mill is a drop in a bucket on a one year.
Right you are. This should have been no more than 13MM, which is inflated to get him to Boston. Less would have made much more sense.
You don’t know much about baseball it’s obvious
For quite a few teams $20 million is not a drop in a
Team payroll for 2025
Washington Nationals, $107,653,761
Cleveland Guardians, $100,522,729
Pittsburgh Pirates, $87,645,246
Chicago White Sox, $82,279,825
Tampa Bay Rays, $79,216,312
Athletics, $73,118,981
Miami Marlins, $67,412,619
How did the Red Sox screw up?
Every pitching signing is a gamble no matter what team and what player.
You could have a guy that’s had five straight years of dominance blow his arm out the first year on the new team after signing for big money.
You know that, I know that, every baseball fan knows that.
This was a one year deal and a very good gamble on a potential bounce back starting pitcher.
I disagree
He’ll clear waivers and then somebody will pick him up for the league minimum. Several playoff contending teams could use an extra arm
Won’t be the Yankees cos they still have 1 last series each with Red Sox and Blue Jays in September.
Probably Aa and the Braves going to sign him once he clears wavers. 1st place best record brewers have mode no waiver claims all year.
If I recall correctly, he only needs to be signed to a minor league deal to be eligible for the playoffs.
That’s a low risk move for the Dodgers. And might benefit Walker as well.
No wonder he got cut. Look at that picture, looks like Tim Robbins trying to throw the ball there
Yells F bomb into glove.
Is this the guy who punched himself in the face on the way to dugout too?
Headed to Atlanta!
About time.
He could take up jazz bass and play with Dave Stryker.
You could have done that for the 40 man spot, but not to get Tolle onto the 26 man. If you keep Buehler you’re sending Bernardino down again, and Bernie helps them win more games than Buehler would down the stretch.
He’ll be a White Sox starter next year
I was calling for the Sox to cut him in June. better late than never.
They needed some more innings out of him for that $21 million. The kids weren’t ready for the call up either. Now we have two maybe three guys who are potential starters and can fill in.
I may also add that Bello and Giolito have recently established themselves as front end starters on the year. That also helps with releasing a veteran starter.
I think June may have been a little early to release Walker Bueller outright.
gary- I was initially calling for a trade in late May/early June when he had some value just based on his name. The Sox would’ve had to eat the contract, but what’s done is done.
It makes it sound like I am anti- Walker. not at all. at the time, I praised the signing as a decent risk that could just as easily have gone the other way and he established himself as an ace. would they have traded for May? maybe. would we have a Skenes/Tolle duel in late August? probably not. as it is, win or lose, I can’t wait to see this matchup!
Seemed like a more appropriate time to do it than with a month left to go, no?
Walker Buehler’s Day Off!
Kind of surprised that it took 120 comments to get to that one.
Ha I love that movie!
IF San Diego picked him up would he be in the position to turn them down? Would he forfeit his pay?
No team is taking the Sox off the hook for the $3.4 mil left on the contract. But if San Diego was the only contender to offer him a league minimum deal, of course he’d take it. Though, doubt the Pads are that desperate to add another JP Sears to their rotation….
He gets paid no matter what
I assume he’ll be good for anyone but Red Sox
He can’t be worse then Stanek. I’d rather Holmes go to the bullpen and they give Buehler a rotation spot but Stearns would never do that in a million years
Please, AA, scoop this guy up!
You have room in the rotation to try to get this guy right again.
i can’t see anyone claiming him and taking on money, but with Braves so desperate for starters it may be a good idea to sign him and let him pitch. It gives them a chance to look him over and see if there is anything they can correct or change with an eye to next year. Has to be a better option than Quantrill. I could see the Giants talking to him about a minor league deal for same reason.
Sorry to see this. It makes the Red Sox better.
I understand he’s been bad, but ask yourself, has he been Miles Mikolas/Andre Pallante bad?
Walker can always claim he won Boston’s 10,000th game.
Still not as bad as the Alex Cobb deal. At least you guys got some innings.
Dodgers will sign and put him in the pen.
“Why release him when he could have been useful as long relief in the playoffs??” will have been the most asked question in these comments I’m assuming (not actually going to read through)… well… the answer is because he’s not the kind of guy that will have taken the demotion to the pen as an opportunity to still help the team. He will have been pouty and pissed off and potentially a clubhouse issue if another pitcher struggles in “his spot”. Release him and move on. It just didn’t work out. I had high hopes for him too. I actually like the fire he brings. It’s just a whole different animal when you bring that fire and get hit all season long.
Yeah Sean P…. Turns out this about money…. If Buehler got a couple more Starts he had escalators in his contract to earn more money…. this had nothing to do with anything but that.
He wasn’t going to get starts in the bullpen.
Coop – Great point!
The Dodgers have 25 reasons not to sign him.
Not that it really matters, but his 2024 postseason was a bit better than “decent”. His one bad outing was in San Diego and the reason for it was the Dodgers’ infield uncharacteristically threw the ball all around the diamond in that one inning.
You all know which inning it was: it was the inning in which the Padres scored their last runs of the postseason.
But as awesome as it was for Buehler to return to his big game postseason form for LA, they wisely didn’t let his heroics cloud their judgment.
We’ll always have the “are you not entertained?” moment from Buetane.
Would love to see the Yankees sign him
Wow.
STUPID MOVE!
signing him was the stupid move.
Buehler to the Tigers. You can never have enough pitching and I’d like to see what Chris Fetter could do with him.
Could give u something alex cobb hasnt potentially….worth kickin the tires on him outta the pen
Waste of 20 million. SELL THE TEAM HENRY YOU BUM
I’d like the Dodgers to pick him up. He could take Wrobleski’s spot.
To be fair he got absolutely rocked in June. His numbers outside that month aren’t great, but just ok enough that I can see some team taking a chance on him
Unfortunately, I have a feeling he may be a Padres come close of the weekend. If not Andrew Heaney too.
You spelled “disappointing” wrong. Yeah, I’m that guy.
Intentional, it’s been that bad…
Dissapointing Datapointing, whatever.
I’m not a Braves fan but I can see Buehler fitting in well with them.
Sale, Strider, Schwellenbach, Waldrep, Buehler would be a heck of a rotation next season with Holmes and Lopez as depth pieces out of the pen.
Cubs need pitching help, rotation running on fumes, Jameson Taillon back on IL. Horton is the only one that’s been consistent in 2nd half. Add Buehler and go 6 man to give Shota, Boyd and Rea some much needed extra days off and hope Buehler can be slightly better. Boyd has pitched more innings already than any in last like 5 years and Rea has been in rotation all year even though he was signed as most likely the long man in the pen. I would roll the dice, it is right up Jed’s alley anyway.
I liked Buehler a lot and don’t regret the sox signed him. I just regret he couldn’t find his mojo get back to being the starter he once was. I wish him the best.
let Niebla have a weekend with Walker
Come to the Mets bullpen
He will get his mojo back….. just not this year.
Atlanta is the place to go to resurrect his pitching career
Second guessing myself
Should’ve been May DFA instead