Boston Red Sox release 2X All-Star, World Champ Walker Buehler
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The Boston Red Sox announced that they have released right-hander Walker Buehler.
Chris Cotillo of MassLive reported Buehler's release prior to the official announcement.
Red Sox have released Walker Buehler, sources say.
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.
Craig Breslow explains why the Red Sox outright released Walker Buehler instead of DFA'ing the 31-year-old:
«Just trying to be mindful and respectful of who he is and what he's accomplished, and felt like that was the fairest way to treat him at this point.»
«Just trying to be mindful and respectful of who he is and what he's accomplished, and felt like that was the fairest way to treat him at this point.»
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.
| POLL | ||
AOUT 30 | 145 ANSWERS Boston Red Sox release 2X All-Star, World Champ Walker Buehler Will Walker Bueller get claimed off waivers? | ||
| Yes | 105 | 72.4 % |
| No | 13 | 9 % |
| Too early to tell | 27 | 18.6 % |
| List of polls | ||
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