Report: Walker Buehler, Red Sox Agree to $21M Contract; Won World Series with Dodgers

Walker Buehler will enter the next phase of his career with the Boston Red Sox after spending his entire professional tenure up to this point with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Per Russell Dorsey of Yahoo Sports, Buehler and the Red Sox have agreed to an one-year, $21.05 million contract on Monday.

Buehler did not have the walk year he was hoping to in Los Angeles. The 30-year-old signed a one-year deal worth $8.025 million last offseason to avoid arbitration. He missed the entire 2023 campaign after undergoing Tommy John surgery in August 2022.

There was some hope that Buehler might be able to pitch out of the bullpen at the end of the 2023 season, but the Dodgers ultimately made the decision to shut him down rather than try to rush him back.

"The way I kind of explain it is I feel like I kind of bet on a longshot horse and it ran second," Buehler told reporters after it was confirmed his season was over. "I certainly don't think it came in last. I got really, really close."

Things didn't pan out in 2024 like anyone hoped. Buehler finished with a 5.38 ERA with 89 hits and 16 homers allowed in 75.1 innings over 16 starts.

There were no shortage of problem areas for Buehler that contributed to his dreadful season. He ranked in the 20th percentile or worse in chase percentage (24.5), whiff percentage (19.4) and strikeout percentage (18.6).

Buehler's average fastball velocity was a career-low 95.0 mph. Hitters teed off on it to the tune of a .342 batting average and .696 slugging percentage, with eight of his 16 homers allowed coming on the heater.

Things did look better for Buehler during the Dodgers' postseason run to the World Series. He didn't allow a run on five hits with 13 strikeouts in 10 innings over his last three appearances, including a scoreless ninth inning to get the save in the clinching Game 5 against the New York Yankees.

Given all of the issues Buehler had coming off the elbow surgery, this is a low-risk, high-reward deal for Boston. He was a Cy Young candidate as recently as 2021 when he had a 2.47 ERA and 212 strikeouts in 207.2 innings in 33 starts.

There are still some pieces to work with that suggest Buehler could be at least closer to a league-average starter in 2025. His cutter was his second-most-used pitch last season, with opponents hitting just .238 against it. He only threw his sweeper 110 times, but it limited hitters to a .121 average against.

If Buehler can make his fastball merely a workable pitch that hitters can't crush whenever they see it, he will be worth this investment for the Red Sox, who also acquired Garrett Crochet from the Chicago White Sox to bolster their starting rotation.