Walker Buehler came roaring to life for the Los Angeles Dodgers during their World Series victory this season, but he won’t quite be rewarded right off the bat.
The Dodgers officially did not extend a qualifying offer to the impending free agent pitcher Buehler by Monday’s deadline. They did however give a qualifying offer to All-Star slugger Teoscar Hernandez, per Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic.
What that means is that the 30-year-old Buehler will be able to leave the Dodgers in free agency this winter without the Dodgers getting any draft-pick compensation in return. Bob Nightengale of USA Today also reports that a few MLB executives are “mildly surprised” that the Buehler was not given a qualifying offer by the Dodgers.
The two-time All-Star Buehler presents a difficult case. He now has two Tommy John surgeries under his belt, and his latest one in 2022 kept him sidelined for nearly two full calendar years. Upon Buehler’s return in May 2024, he was extremely rusty and posted an ugly 5.38 ERA in 16 regular season starts.
But Buehler really elevated his game during the Dodgers’ championship run, posting 10 shutout innings during the NLCS and the World Series (including logging his first career save to close out the decisive Game 5). Buehler was also key to the Dodgers’ previous World Series title in 2020 and is clearly a big-time postseason performer.
By not extending Buehler a qualifying offer, the Dodgers risk losing him for nothing in free agency. But it also means that they do not have to potentially commit a guaranteed $21 million to Buehler for next season and also do not have to worry about negotiating with Buehler under the Nov. 19 deadline to accept the QO. Buehler himself said before the playoffs that he was being realistic about his expectations for free agency, so perhaps he can now try for a more creative (and potentially incentive-laden) contract to return to the Dodgers.
