5:07PM: The Phillies have announced the signing, with the added detail that Buehler has inked a minor league contract and will report to Triple-A.<\/p>\n
4:45PM: The Phillies have signed right-hander Walker Buehler<\/a>, The Athletic\u2019s Matt Gelb<\/a> reports.\u00a0 The deal will become official once Buehler (who is represented by Excel) passes a physical, and Buehler is eligible for inclusion on a playoff roster because he is joining the Phillies before September 1.\u00a0 Gelb reported Philadelphia\u2019s interest in Buehler earlier today<\/a>.<\/p>\n It was just two days ago that the Red Sox released Buehler, bringing an early end to their partnership after Buehler signed a one-year, $21.05MM free agent deal last winter.\u00a0 Roughly $3.4MM remains on that contract, but the Sox will remain responsible for most of that money, as the Phils will owe Buehler just the prorated portion of the MLB minimum salary.<\/p>\n The signing is a flier to see if Buehler can bounce back in Philadelphia after a rough year in Boston.\u00a0 Buehler has struggled to a 5.45 ERA, 16.5% strikeout rate, and 10.8% walk rate over 112 1\/3 innings this season, and opposing batters have taken him yard 22 times.\u00a0 The numbers aren\u2019t far removed from Buehler\u2019s regular-season performance over 75 1\/3 innings with the Dodgers in 2024, when Buehler was returning to action after missing the entire 2023 campaign due to Tommy John surgery.<\/p>\n That was the second TJ procedure of Buehler\u2019s career, and given how shaky he has looked in the aftermath, it remains to be seen if the righty can ever return to his past All-Star form.\u00a0 However, Buehler showed some flashes of his old self during the Dodgers\u2019 playoff run in 2024, throwing 10 shutout innings over his last three appearance to help Los Angeles capture the championship.\u00a0 Most notably, Buehler even picked up the save to close out the clinching Game Five.<\/p>\n As Gelb notes, the Phillies are probably viewing Buehler as a bullpen contributor again for the playoffs given how the team already has its postseason rotation set.\u00a0 While losing Zack Wheeler<\/a> for the season blew a big hole into the Phils\u2019 pitching plans, there\u2019s still plenty of starting options available in Cristopher Sanchez<\/a>, Ranger Suarez<\/a>, Jesus Luzardo<\/a>, Aaron Nola<\/a>, and Taijuan Walker<\/a>.\u00a0 The Phillies were considering a six-man rotation for September when Wheeler was still available, so Buehler could potentially make a start or two just to help ease the innings burden on the other starters, and then slide into a relief role in October.<\/p>\n With a healthy 6.5-game lead over the Mets in the NL East, the Phillies have some breathing room to use September as a bit of a laboratory to figure out their optimal playoff roster.\u00a0 If Buehler\u2019s struggles continue, the Phils could just leave him off a postseason roster entirely, with no cost to the team apart from his minimal salary.<\/p>\n A bigger-picture look at Buehler\u2019s free-agent future should wait until his 2025 season is actually over.\u00a0 Buehler is still just 31 and probably wants to keep trying to re-establish himself as a starter, so he\u2019ll likely sign another one-year deal (worth far less than $21.05MM) with a team in need of rotation help.\u00a0 Should Buehler pitch well as a reliever in Philadelphia, however, it might add an interesting wrinkle to the situation, as exploring a full-time role change would add more interest to Buehler\u2019s market.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"5:07PM: The Phillies have announced the signing, with the added detail that Buehler has inked a minor 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