The Los Angeles Dodgers won the 2024 World Series in convincing fashion following a dominant playoff run. One of the surprise stories from the World Series victory was the reemergence of starting pitcher Walker Buehler.
Buehler wasn’t great for 90 percent of 2024, but he made two scoreless appearances in the World Series including the save that iced the series in Game 5. Now the righty is a free agent and he’s looking to cash in on the solid finish to the year.
Jon Heyman of the New York Post recently projected Buehler to sign a two-year, $40 million deal in free agency, which is much more lucrative than the one-year, $4 million deal that Spotrac projects.
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“The Dodgers don’t make mistakes, but did they do him a favor not giving him the qualifying offer, thus not attaching draft-pick compensation to a team that signs him? They considered it, but they have so many great starters coming back and may be aiming even higher than this World Series hero. $40 million, two years,” Heyman wrote.
After the Dodgers signed Blake Snell in free agency, it pretty much wiped them out of bringing Buehler back, especially at the price that Heyman attached.
Teams that could make sense would be the New York Mets, New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Cincinnati Reds, and Baltimore Orioles.
Buehler made 33 starts with a 2.47 ERA and 0.97 WHIP in 2021. After a few years of injuries, he posted a 5.38 ERA and 1.55 WHIP in 16 starts during the 2024 campaign.
It’s tough to imagine Buehler landing a deal worth $20 million a year, but given his upside, it could make sense. If the righty returns to his pre-injury form, he could be quite the steal.
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