It would be a fun, humorous subplot to the 2025 season if Walker Buehler simply returned to the Los Angeles Dodgers a few months after leaving.
Buehler spent nine years in a Dodgers uniform before signing with the Boston Red Sox in free agency. He made All-Star teams in 2019 and 2021, and World Series rings in 2020 and 2024. Last October, he won Game 3 of the World Series at Yankee Stadium, then closed out Game 5.
Now that the Red Sox are floundering and the Dodgers need starting pitching, the idea has begun to percolate that LA could reunite with Buehler. And there's some recent precedent; the Houston Astros brought back Justin Verlander at the deadline in 2023 just months after he signed with the New York Mets.
On Friday, Christopher Kline strongly urged the Dodgers to trade for Buehler, listing two mid-level pitching prospects as potential options for Boston in a one-for-one swap.
"One of the easiest comps from last season was the New York Mets' trade for Paul Blackburn, a similarly productive and injury-bitten starter from the Athletics. In return, 22-year-old pitcher Kade Morris was sent to Oakland; he is currently listed as the A's No. 15 prospect at MLB Pipeline," Kline wrote.
"If Los Angeles was willing to cough up a solid pitching prospect for Buehler, such as No. 10 prospect Justin Wrobleski or No. 12 prospect Nick Frasso, that might be enough to get Boston to accept its loss and cut bait."
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Unfortunately, Buehler's last two starts have been a mess, which could either tank his odds of getting traded or improve them. He's allowed 12 total runs, 10 of them earned, in 7 2/3 innings, taking back-to-back losses and raising his season ERA to 5.18.
That's a familiar story for Dodgers fans, though, who saw him put up a 5.38 ERA in 15 starts last season. None of the struggles mattered when he got to the playoffs, because the psycho competitor in him superseded any issues with stuff or mechanics.
Could the same happen in 2025? That's for the Dodgers, with an assist from this floundering Boston team, to decide.
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