Cody Snavely
Spring training is a little more than a month away, with pitchers and catchers reporting to camp on February 16th; however, one name we won’t hear much in 2023 is star right-handed pitcher Walker Buehler as he will be sidelined until late 2023 after having another Tommy John surgery the second in his young career.
However, the Dodgers should take a page out of the Braves’ playbook and extend Buehler before he hits free agency after the 2024 season. Buehler has easily been the ace of the rotation since 2019, and after a dominant 2020 postseason which led to an excellent 2021 regular season, he was destined to get paid when he became a free agent.
Although there would be a bump in the road after a disastrous start to his 2022 campaign, which saw his ERA balloon from 2.47 to 4.02 and giving up an alarming HR/9 of 1.11 compared to a 0.82 clip in 2021, it was apparent that something was wrong. He was then placed on the IL with a right flexor strain where he could not throw a baseball for 6-8 weeks. However, this turned out mute as the Dodgers would later announce that Buehler would undergo Tommy John surgery and miss the remainder of the 2022 season and significant time for 2023.
Pitchers having multiple Tommy John surgeries are not always guaranteed to come back and pitch like their selves so the Dodgers would be taking quite the risk extending Buehler at this stage. Still, the Dodgers’ medical, training, and coaching staff, are amongst the best in Baseball and will have no problem helping him get back to the flame thrower he was. However, the biggest reason the Dodgers should look at an extension now is due to the impending free agency of Julio Urias after the 2023 season.
If Julio leaves in free agency, which is a huge possibility due to his agent being Scott Boras, the Dodgers would have a significant hole in their rotation. With Kershaw continuing to age and talks of him retiring or going to Texas still present and the unknowns of Dustin May and other young, unproven prospects such as Bobby Miller, Gavin Stone, and Ryan Pepiot Buehler is the clear option to extend for stability.
An extension may be his best bet for Buehler as he continues to rehab and gets the most guaranteed money since 2024 would likely be him building his body back up after the surgery. If that is the case, the Dodgers could take advantage of the situation to lock up Walker for a short extension. However, Buehler could decide to bet on himself and not take an extension and go into the 2024 season with the outlook of being a free agent.
The right-hander, who turned 28 in July and will miss most of his age 29 season, would certainly be wise to try and take an extension if offered by the Dodgers, especially of the negative history of multiple Tommy John surgeries for pitchers reaching their thirties.
