NEW YORK — Though Friday’s announcement by manager Alex Cora that struggling right-hander Walker Buehler is moving to the bullpen didn’t necessarily come as a surprise, the venue at which the decision was revealed could only be described as fitting.
In the final MLB game played in 2024, Buehler stood tall on the mound of Yankee Stadium, punching out Alex Verdugo to clinch the World Series for the Dodgers.
In a best-case scenario, the 31-year-old will see his stuff play up in the bullpen, have some of his confidence restored and play an important role for the Red Sox down the stretch and perhaps into October.
The Red Sox haven’t determined yet who will fill Buehler’s spot in the rotation, which comes up next on Monday night in Baltimore. Lefty Kyle Harrison, one of the players acquired in the trade with the Giants for Rafael Devers, is a possibility. Harrison has been pitching for Triple-A Worcester since the trade. Richard Fitts, who was recalled from Worcester on Thursday, could also be in the mix.
To date, this has been a tough season for Buehler, who signed a “bet on himself,” one-year, $21.05 million contract with the Red Sox in December. In 22 starts, Buehler is 7-7 with a 5.40 ERA.
Cora and chief baseball officer Craig Breslow huddled with Buehler on Thursday evening to tell him of the decision.
“It’s obviously disappointing. It’s the first time in my career that I’ve been in a situation like that,” said Buehler. “But at the end of the day, for the organization and, to a lesser extent, myself, it’s probably the right thing for our group, and gives me an opportunity to kind of reset in some way. I think in terms of this year’s team, it’s the right thing to do.
“I think for me, it’s a situation I’ve tried to avoid my whole life. But the way this season and last season have gone for me, it’s definitely understandable, and something that I’m gonna try and embrace for the next couple months.”
There were times this season Buehler looked like he could get back to his former self.
“I think you have to have confidence in this game, and if I can find that in one-inning bursts, I think that’s a great thing for everyone involved,” said Buehler. “There’s some stuff about the season that I’m really proud of. Obviously, a good game against Philly, good game against San Diego, two really good teams. And I think that’ll be in the back of my mind that [that type of success] is in there, and that I can be a successful starting pitcher. But right now, I’m just not.”
Buehler is still in the early stages of refining his pitch mix in a bullpen role. Perhaps life as a reliever can simplify things for Buehler, who has seven pitches in his arsenal. It will be interesting to see in what form that simplification takes place.
“It’s just hard to say these two [pitches] are the winners when they’ve all kind of sucked all year, so we’ll figure out what it looks like,” Buehler said. “And there’s just stuff that happens that kind of changes your pitch mix. One feels good, one doesn’t. So we’ll talk through that and see if we can get ourselves into a spot that we all feel comfortable with.”
Though Buehler’s season ended in glory last year, it was very similar to this one statistically. In his comeback from Tommy John surgery, Buehler made 16 starts for the Dodgers during the regular season, going 1-6 with a 5.38 ERA.
But he didn’t allow a run in his final three outings of the postseason.
“It’s easy to have a year like I had last year, and then it goes well at the end, and I had two good playoff games and [everyone] kind of missed that I had a bad year,” said Buehler. “And you can get a little complacent in that, and every time I walk out there, [I think] I’m going to be good because I was for my first 100 starts in the big leagues, or whatever it was. So yeah, a little bit of back to the drawing board and try and get my body in a better place for next year.”
