The Los Angeles Dodgers have multiple starting pitchers on the free agent market, including Walker Buehler, Jack Flaherty and Clayton Kershaw.
Flaherty’s market has yet to develop much, and Kershaw has already made his intentions known on re-signing with the Dodgers. But for Buehler, he’s a more interesting case with multiple teams showing interest thus far.
Buehler is coming off an incredibly poor season, but he has history as an ace and a long list of fantastic playoff performances. There’s upside in signing him, but potentially more risk than any other starting pitcher.
According to Joel Sherman of the New York Post, the New York Mets are one of the teams intrigued by Buehler’s upside and checked in to express interest:
But with a two-year, $34 million agreement with Frankie Montas, the David Stearns Mets are forming a pattern on how they view free-agent starters — think short-term deals with upside — which is why they have inquired on Walker Buehler, among others.
The Mets signed Frankie Montas, so whether they still have interest in Buehler remains to be seen. However, they are among the many teams connected to the right-hander, which also includes the Dodgers, New York Yankees, Atlanta Braves, Chicago Cubs and Athletics.
Buehler reportedly has mutual interest in joining the Yankees, but he declined to play in Sacramento for the A’s. His preference seems to be returning to the Dodgers, but that may be growing more unlikely.
Buehler, who was coming off a second career Tommy John surgery, finished the 2024 season with a 5.38 ERA across 75.1 innings while posting a career-worst 10.5% strikeout-to-walk rate. His stuff is no longer what it once was and returning to ace status seems unlikely, but Buehler can still be a solid contributor on any team with a strong playoff pedigree.
Walker Buehler remains confident in ability
After his run of 10 scoreless innings in the postseason, Buehler had plenty of confidence in his abilities, calling himself “a problem right now.”
After a rough season, Buehler regaining his confidence played a key role in his success, and it should help him moving forward.
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