Red Sox release Walker Buehler: Could playoff-bound Tigers or Dodgers reunion be next?

Exactly one week after relegating him to the bullpen, the Boston Red Sox on Friday announced that they have released right-handed pitcher Walker Buehler. 

It's been quite a tumble for Buehler. He finished fourth in NL Cy Young voting in 2021, when he was 16-4 with a 2.47 ERA and 7.1 WAR in 207 ⅔ innings. In 2022, he needed Tommy John surgery to repair his elbow. In his return in 2024, he had a miserable regular season and a disappointing first postseason start, but he worked 10 scoreless innings in three outings to finish the playoffs, including recording a save in the clinching game of the World Series for the Dodgers. 

AL East odds: Yankees, Red Sox push to make division race a fight, but have Blue Jays already locked it up?

Matt Snyder

Buehler then landed a one-year, $21.05 million deal with the Red Sox. In his time in Boston, which is now concluded, he was 7-7 with a 5.45 ERA and -0.9 WAR. 

Given that he's 30, has an All-Star and recent World Series pedigree, and that the Red Sox are picking up all his salary save for the prorated league minimum the rest of the way, surely another team will grab Buehler. He'd even be eligible for the playoffs, assuming he's placed on a 40-man roster before the calendar flips to September. 

What team might grab him? Here are a few speculative suitors. 

Tigers

The Tigers have lost Reese Olson and Jackson Jobe for the season and Casey Mize has struggled for a while. Jack Flaherty has been worse. Who is the No. 2 behind Tarik Skubal for the playoffs? Is it 41-year-old Charlie Morton? Or Chris Paddack? Or Flaherty or Mize? They need two starters and maybe three behind Skubal in order to make a deep playoff run. The moves for Morton and Paddack in front of the trade deadline suggested the Tigers are throwing whatever they can against the wall to see what sticks with the rotation. Buehler is an option.

Royals

Pitching coach Brian Sweeney is developing a reputation for getting the most out of pitchers due to cases like Cole Ragans, Seth Lugo, Kris Bubic and even Michael Wacha. Might the Royals take a shot here with Buehler? They don't appear to have room in the rotation right now with Wacha and Lugo joined by Noah Cameron, Michael Lorenzen and Ryan Bergert, but you never know.

Dodgers

The Dodgers will not be grabbing Buehler with the goal of having him in the postseason rotation. There are four rotation spots for each playoff team. The Dodgers have Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, Blake Snell, Clayton Kershaw and Shohei Ohtani from which to pick four. If two of those pitchers get hurt before the playoffs, they'd go with Emmet Sheehan and/or a bullpen game. 

There is a familiarity here, though, with the possibility of Buehler pitching well enough out of the bullpen for a month to carve out a playoff role as a reliever. The chances of a reunion here are higher than zero.

A non-contender

On Aug. 21, the Braves selected starter Cal Quantrill off waivers from the Marlins. Why? Neither team is contending. Well, the Braves need innings covered. There's still a season left to play for teams out of playoff contention, and rather than bringing up youngsters who aren't yet ready for the majors, grabbing a veteran like Buehler to absorb the innings is always on the table. For Buehler, it's a chance to try and rebuild his value before hitting free agency again.