{"id":475270,"date":"2026-02-18T05:48:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T05:48:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/475270\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T05:48:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T05:48:07","slug":"former-dodgers-star-walker-buehler-signs-with-san-diego-padres","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/475270\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Dodgers star Walker Buehler signs with San Diego Padres"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Walker Buehler<\/a> has signed with the San Diego Padres after the right-hander spent the first eight seasons of his major league career with their archrivals, the Dodgers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Buehler was in the Padres\u2019 clubhouse Tuesday morning after agreeing to a minor league deal with an invitation to big league camp.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, it feels a little weird,\u201d Buehler told reporters in Arizona after pulling on a brown and gold uniform. \u201cI imagine five years ago it would have felt a lot more weird, but this is a crazy game and this is a great opportunity for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 31-year-old Buehler said he will \u201ccome in and try and make the team and contribute in any way I can. I\u2019m a starter, and I want to start, so I\u2019m here to try and make the rotation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Buehler spent last season with Boston and Philadelphia, which signed him in late August after the Red Sox released him. Buehler struggled in Boston, but looked good enough during his brief time with the Phillies to generate interest from the Padres and other teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cI threw the ball well over there, and getting the velocity back as well as the delivery has kind of been the big thing,\u201d Buehler said. \u201cThe second half of last year was relatively successful compared to the first half, and there\u2019s stuff we want to continue to build on there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Buehler earned two All-Star selections and two World Series rings during his 10 years in the Dodgers organization, serving as a mainstay in their rotation whenever healthy and often looking like one of the majors\u2019 top starters. He has been particularly good against the Padres in his career, going 7-1 with a 1.67 ERA and 83 strikeouts in 13 starts.<\/p>\n

He won Game 3 of the 2024 World Series before earning the save in the Dodgers\u2019 clinching Game 5 victory at Yankee Stadium, capping his return to uniform with a gritty Fall Classic. He had missed the entire 2023 season and big chunks of 2024 while recovering from his second Tommy John surgery.<\/p>\n

But that memorable relief inning in Game 5 to preserve a 7-6 victory over the Yankees was his final appearance for the Dodgers, who allowed Buehler to leave as a free agent for a lucrative deal with Boston. After one tumultuous year back East, he\u2019s eager to be back in the NL West with the Padres, who have two openings in their rotation.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously some familiarity with the division, and living in Southern California is something that my family and I are accustomed to,\u201d Buehler said. \u201cA good opportunity to be a part of a really talented ballclub. Looking forward to seeing what we can make of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nick Pivetta, Joe Musgrove and Michael King already have spots in San Diego\u2019s rotation. Buehler will be competing for the final two slots with returnees Randy V\u00e1squez and JP Sears and newly signed Germ\u00e1n M\u00e1rquez and Griffin Canning.<\/p>\n

Buehler said he moved out West during the offseason to prepare for another run at the majors, and \u201cgot my body in a little better spot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Buehler said his delivery is returning to the level and form at which he spent his first six big league seasons with the Dodgers before elbow surgery.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy elbow and my body has kind of been through some stuff,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Buehler is 57-29 with a 3.52 ERA and a 1.15 WHIP over his decade in the majors. He has topped 150 strikeouts three times.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Walker Buehler has signed with the San Diego Padres after the right-hander spent the first eight seasons of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":475271,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[8731,220152,49121,4279,25699,5460,9590,363,55718,23559,29643,2328,5190,99,6310,220153,2394],"class_list":{"0":"post-475270","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-boston","9":"tag-buehler","10":"tag-delivery","11":"tag-dodgers","12":"tag-era","13":"tag-game","14":"tag-major","15":"tag-mlb","16":"tag-nl-west","17":"tag-padres","18":"tag-rotation","19":"tag-san-diego-padres","20":"tag-season","21":"tag-sports","22":"tag-victory","23":"tag-world-series-ring","24":"tag-year"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=475270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475270\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/475271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=475270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}