The Boston Red Sox had as good of an offseason as any team in MLB. They got the right-handed bat in Alex Bregman that they had been missing. They acquired Garrett Crochet, the ace that they hadn't had for years. An argument can be made, though, that the team's best value move was signing Walker Buehler to a one-year, $21.05 million deal. Buehler showed why that's the case in his 2025 spring training debut.
Facing a New York Mets lineup that had several starters in it, Buehler twirled two scoreless innings and looked nothing short of dominant. The right-hander allowed just one hit and struck out four of the eight batters he faced.
Walker Buehler strikes out 4 in his #SpringTraining debut with the Red Sox pic.twitter.com/SU8NCBCLjY
— MLB (@MLB) March 2, 2025
Sure, he didn't have to face Juan Soto, and spring training statistics don't mean much, but how can you not be encouraged by what you saw from Buehler if you're a Red Sox fan? Los Angeles Dodgers could have told Red Sox fans this was coming.
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Walker Buehler gives the Red Sox another frontline arm when at his best
Not too long ago, Buehler was seen as one of the best pitchers in the National League and felt like a lock to receive absurd money when he hit free agency. He finished ninth in the NL Cy Young balloting in 2019 and finished fourth two years later. Unfortunately, he made just 12 starts in 2022 before undergoing Tommy John Surgery. That major injury knocked him out for the entire 2023 campaign, and caused him to miss the first month of 2024 as well, all but ending any hope Buehler had at securing his life-altering deal in free agency.
Once Buehler came back, he looked like a shell of himself. The 30-year-old posted a 5.38 ERA in 16 starts and 75.1 innings of work in the regular season, and even had to miss a couple of months due to a hip injury. While the numbers were obviously brutal, Buehler allowed two runs or fewer in three of his five September outings and looked even better in October.
After allowing six runs in his second postseason frame of the year, he delivered 13 consecutive scoreless innings spanning his next four appearances, helping the Dodgers win the World Series. He was the pitcher who closed the door for Los Angeles against the New York Yankees.
Buehler's finish to the season proved that he still had a lot more left in the tank, and that showed in his first spring outing. At the end of the day, when healthy, Buehler is a legitimate frontline arm. His Cy Young-caliber seasons prove that. He did not look close to that guy in 2024, but how many pitchers come back from Tommy John Surgery and immediately look like the pitcher they were prior to the injury? It took Buehler some time, but he started to look more like that guy down the stretch and in October.
Now he's fully healthy and looking like the dominant force he once was for the Dodgers. There's reason to be concerned due to his injury history, but as long as he's able to take the mound, the Red Sox should believe Buehler is in for a massive 2025 season. If they aren't sold quite yet, they should just talk to Dodgers fans.