The Boston Red Sox adding Walker Buehler to their starting rotation on a one-year, $21.05 million deal felt like a calculated risk that could pay off huge. Yes, Buehler struggled with the Los Angeles Dodgers last season, but he shined in the postseason. In addition to trading for Garrett Crochet, Buehler looked like he could be the missing No. 2 in the rotation. Instead, fans can't wait for him to get out of town and ship him somewhere else before the July 31 MLB Trade Deadline.
After dealing Rafael Devers, the Red Sox's trade deadline plans remain a bit uncertain. It feels safe to say that trading Alex Bregman, which was wildly suggested as a possibility by Kiley McDaniel and Jeff Passan of ESPN, isn't going to be moved. However, Boston is a prime candidate to buy win-now pieces but also ship off depth in order to help facilitate some of those moves. Buehler is a prime candidate for the latter category after another abysmal start on Monday proved it's not going to work out with the Red Sox.
In an eventual 9-5 loss to the Los Angeles Angels, Buehler immediately coughed up an early 3-0 Red Sox lead by giving up five runs in the bottom of the first, giving up a home run before walking in two runs and hitting another batter for the final run. Those were the only runs he allowed, sure, but it continued the infuriating trend for the veteran right-hander of putting Boston behind the 8-ball in games as soon as he steps on the mound.
Through 13 starts this season, Buehler has only lasted 63.0 innings and has an abysmal 6.29 ERA and 1.57 WHIP. While there have been flashes of quality pitching and while his fastball velocity has ticked back up, his command has been awful, and the results have been even worse.
Red Sox fans are ready to trade Walker Buehler as soon as possible
Craig Breslow and the Red Sox, for their many faults, have a glut of starting pitching options. Kyle Harrison, who was the key piece in the return from the Devers trade, is nearing his debut in Boston. Tanner Houck could return soon. Hunter Dobbins has just hit the IL but was replaced by another young arm in Richard Fitts. And Patrick Sandoval could return later in the year. All of these guys have a case to join Crochet, Brayan Bello and Lucas Giolito in the rotation. Buehler has no such case at this point.
The question, of course, would be what the Red Sox could get for Buehler. The simple answer is, "not much!" However, for a pitcher with some enticing metrics and last year's postseason track record, there still could be buyers interested in supplementing the rotation who could offer some sort of prospect capital.
That would be best-case scenario for the Red Sox, not just because they would free up space in the deep rotation, but also to simply get rid of Buehler at this point. That would make fans happy at this point, but it would potentially make them happier with what any prospect they could back could mean for the rest of their trade deadline plans.
A return for Walker Buehler could help facilitate another Red Sox trade
One of the nuggets that came out in the wake of the Devers trade was that the Red Sox could use some of the pieces they got in return for their former star third baseman and DH was that those pieces could be moved again before the deadline. Breslow has maintained Boston will be a buyer, which makes sense given that they're only 1.5 games back of a wild card spot and only six games back now of the Yankees in the AL East.
The Buehler trade could further that case by giving them a deeper pool of prospects to trade with. Even with Roman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer and Kristian Campbell all reaching the final stage as prospects, the Red Sox still have one of the better farm systems in baseball. Adding to that to retain depth for the future while also being able to add to the major-league roster now via trade from that prospect pool is crucial.
Again, we're not talking about an elite prospect the Red Sox would be getting for Buehler. But getting something is better than nothing and, right now, you could argue that the veteran pitcher is giving them nothing when he's on the mound. It's time to remedy that and, based on reading the tea leaves, it feels likely that's the direction Boston is ultimately heading.