The Red Sox rotation just suffered another setback; this time, it’s the arm of the club’s biggest offseason gamble.
Boston placed right-hander Walker Buehler on the 15-day injured list Friday with inflammation in his pitching shoulder, just hours before he was scheduled to start against the Twins. The team is optimistic the setback will be brief â manager Alex Cora told reporters the club expects Buehler to return as soon as the IL stint expires.
âMiss two starts and hopefully be back as soon as the days are over,â Cora said, per The Associated Press.
Thatâs the best-case scenario. But with Buehlerâs history, nothing is ever guaranteed.
The 29-year-old signed a one-year, $21.05 million deal with Boston in December after the Dodgers declined to extend him a qualifying offer. It was a roll of the dice by chief baseball officer Craig Breslow on a two-time Tommy John veteran who showed flashes of dominance late in the 2024 postseason but struggled for most of the year trying to regain his pre-surgery form.
So far, the results in Boston have been mixed. Buehler is 4-1 through six starts but owns a 4.28 ERA. His fastball has also lost its bite, averaging a career-low 93.5 mph.
Buehler last pitched against Cleveland, giving up three runs on seven hits over six innings in what was his third consecutive winning start. But any momentum heâd started to build is now on pause â and Boston is once again scrambling to patch the rotation.
Hunter Dobbins Gets the Call as Injuries Mount
With Buehler sidelined, the Sox recalled right-hander Hunter Dobbins from Triple-A Worcester. Dobbins, 25, is expected to make the start Saturday and has impressed in limited MLB action so far. Through two starts, heâs thrown 11 innings, allowing just three earned runs with 11 strikeouts and two walks â good for a 2.45 ERA.
Dobbins has made a steady climb through the system since being drafted in the eighth round in 2021, posting a 2.61 ERA across Double-A and Triple-A last season. In his most recent outing for Worcester, he held the Syracuse Mets to one run across six innings while striking out three.
He joins a Red Sox staff thatâs been duct-taped together since Opening Day. Lucas Giolito just returned from his own Tommy John surgery, Kutter Crawford has been out all year with a knee injury, and Brayan Bello has only made two starts to date.
Despite the dysfunction, Bostonâs rotation has held its own. Entering the weekend, Red Sox starters rank 14th in the majors with a 3.91 ERA â a surprising bit of stability for a team with its top three arms either recently returned or currently on the shelf.
How long Buehler remains out â and what version of him returns â will be one of the bigger storylines to monitor as Boston pushes through the heart of the season. If Dobbins continues to impress, the Sox may find themselves with a good problem on their hands.
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