Ex-Red Sox Failed Experiment Called ‘Prime Bounce-Back Candidate’ For 2026
There are plenty of arms still available on MLB’s mid-tier starting pitching market, including a pair of pitchers who featured heavily in the Boston Red Sox’s 2025 rotation: Lucas Giolito and Walker Buehler.
Giolito is clearly the more appealing target for starter-needy clubs, and he’s recently been linked to the San Francisco Giants.
Buehler had a rough go with the Red Sox in 2025. His up-and-mostly down season with Boston (7-7, 5.45 ERA) ultimately ended led to his release from the club in August, after which he was scooped up by the Philadelphia Phillies and actually looked better with them.
Despite his glimmer of quality with the Phils, though, Buehler’s 2025 body of work more or less exposed that his reputation’s been inordinately propped up by his success with the Los Angeles Dodgers during the 2024 postseason, which — when viewed with a more objective, birds-eye view — was but a small sample size within a larger theme of inconsistent production from Buehler over the last few years.
You can’t blame any team that isn’t turning his way this offseason as a free-agent target, but based on Buehler’s past successes and degree of talent, someone will definitely give him another chance that he’s rightfully earned.
Maybe this is why ESPN’s insider Jeff Passan said on Thursday that Buehler “remains a prime bounce-back candidate” entering the 2026 season.
If you can pretend like 2025 never happened, Buehler’s resumé still looks pretty solid, and he’s still theoretically in his prime at 31 years old.
Across his career, primarily with the Dodgers from 2017 to 2024, Buehler has posted a 57-29 record, 3.52 ERA, and 846 strikeouts in 839 2/3 innings pitched, earning All-Star nods in 2019 and 2021.