Slumping Dodgers Two-Time All-Star Is Perfect Red Sox Reclamation Project

Could Boston find a new star for cheap?

Apr 28, 2024; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; A hat and glove of an Los Angeles Dodgers player durng a game against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images / John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images

Sometimes, a change of scenery is all it takes to turn a career around.

Major League Baseball is hard, and that goes for rookies and 15-year veterans alike. Formerly successful players can get stuck in horrible slumps, and the only way to break those slumps can be moving to a completely different city and working with a fresh set of teammates and coaches.

The Boston Red Sox have an opportunity to help a veteran regain his All-Star form in free agency. And that veteran happens to be starting the very next game of the World Series for the team two wins away from immortality.

Two-time All-Star Walker Buehler of the Los Angeles Dodgers had a brutal 2024 season in his return from Tommy John surgery, but he's shown flashes of his former self during the postseason. Zachary D. Rymer of Bleacher Report named Buehler as one of the impending free agents who "could become superstars" on new teams in 2025.

"It isn't just the 5.38 ERA that Buehler put up this season that suggests he's not the same since undergoing his second Tommy John surgery in 2022. The quality of his stuff has degraded, with his average fastball notably sitting1 mph below his career norm," Rymer said.

"Though he'll be a reclamation project either way, it would be fascinating to see if a team other than the Dodgers could get Buehler to throw more sinkers and cutters. It's not an especially common approach, but it sure works for Corbin Burnes."

If "throw less four-seam fastballs" sounds like a familiar strategy, it's because that was the hallmark of the Red Sox's pitching philosophy in year one of Andrew Bailey's tenure as pitching coach. Red Sox starters had far more success than anticipated, especially early in the season, while relying on off-speeds more than any other pitching staff.

At 30, Buehler might never get back to throwing high-90s gas and blowing away hitters like he did in his mid-20s. But he's also got a filthy sweeper, and a solid cutter and sinker. The Red Sox could gain themselves a solid mid-rotation starter on a cheap deal if Buehler finds his form, and possibly more.

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