Let's talk about Walker Buehler

[Benjamin Grimm]

Free agent starting pitcher. Faced the Mets in the NLCS this year. (As did Jack Flaherty.)

[Lefty Specialist]

I'd like him but he'll be very expensive and has a recent injury history.

[Centerfield]

He seems like he would be a good candidate for a bounce back year.



The problem is (a) his stuff wasn't great this year. I heard his velocity was down, and that his spin rate is a far cry from his heyday, and ( there are lots of teams who think he will bounceback. So he might be getting multi-year offers.



The Dodgers didn't extend a qualifying offer.

[Centerfield]

This article mentions his spin rates being down.



https://www.si.com/mlb/walker-buehler-messy-tommy-john-surgery-recoverieshttps://www.si.com/mlb/walker-buehler-messy-tommy-john-surgery-recoveries

[MFS62]

High risk/ high reward.

I'm still iffy on him.

Later

[Benjamin Grimm]

His name came up in a number of rumors about the Mets, but we now know it's not going to happen:

https://twitter.com/JeffPassan/status/1871203145499689056

[Edgy MD]

The Dodgers won the championship in 2024. Good for them, but Buehler's the guy who was good for the 2021 Dodgers. Let's not get crazy, Red Sox.

[Centerfield]

I would have preferred this deal for Bueller over the deal we signed for Montas.

[ashie62]

They can have him. Doubt he gets beyond 70-80 innings

[smg58]

I didn't think the Red Sox needed starting pitching that badly, especially after getting Crochet. Of course I also thought they gave up too much for Crochet.



I think Stearns' line of reasoning is that he wants potential value plays where pitching is concerned, but not at the expense of focusing on the ceiling and ignoring the floor. Montas doesn't have Buehler's upside, but he is a safer bet to be at least adequate over 150 IP than Buehler is. The Red Sox went for two high ceiling, low floor acquisitions. We'll see how it works.