The Yankees are interested in Walker Buehler

The Yankees and the right-hander Walker Buehler have “a certain mutual interest” in each other, according to Jon Morosi of MLB Network. New York joins the Braves and Athletics as teams already publicly linked to Buehler in the first few weeks of free agency.

The added wrinkle to the Yankees’ pursuit, of course, is that Buehler delivered some of the best moments of his career against the Bronx Bombers during this year’s World Series. Buehler threw five shutout innings in the Dodgers’ 4-2 win over the Yankees in Game 3, and followed up that strong start by getting the save in the scoreless ninth inning of Game 5 as Buehler threw the final pitches that sealed the Dodgers ‘. championship.

Those clutch performances (and four more innings of shutout ball against the Mets in Game 3 of the NLCS) helped bring a happy ending to an otherwise difficult season for the 30-year-old righty. Buehler missed all of 2023 while recovering from his second Tommy John surgery, and returned to post a 5.38 ERA over 16 starts and 75 1/3 innings for Los Angeles in the regular season. Virtually all of Buehler’s secondary numbers and metrics were down from his career norms, including an 18.6% strikeout rate that ranked in just the 16th percentile among all pitchers.

It’s not uncommon for any pitcher returning from a TJ procedure to initially struggle against big league hitters, though Buehler has the added baggage of both his 2022 surgery and the surgery he underwent shortly after having been drafted by the Dodgers in 2015. Nathan Eovaldi and Daniel Hudson are two of the more prominent examples of pitchers who continued to be successful after returning from two Tommy John surgeries, but there is obviously some risk associated with Buehler going forward, although the upside is clearly there as well.

MLBTR expected Buehler to sign a one-year, 15MM deal this offseason, reasoning that he would seek a cushion contract through 2025 and then quickly return to the market next winter after (hopefully) posting some front-of- the- rotation number. Any number of teams could potentially suit Buehler on such a short-term deal, though he’d probably prefer to pitch for a contender.

New York fits that description, and the Yankees are at least monitoring the free agent pitching market given reports noting their interest in Corbin Burns, Max Fried, Blake Snelland Sean Manaea. The Bombers have the resources to check in on pretty much any free agent, at least from a due diligence perspective, and the perception is that the club prioritizes re-signing Juan Soto before any other big-ticket business in the off-season.

Signing Buehler to a one-year deal might not necessarily count as “big ticket” compared to the other frontline pitchers who will have large multi-year contracts. However, any addition to the rotation would seemingly necessitate a trade, as the Yankees already have six rotation candidates on the roster i Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodon, Clark Schmidt, Nestor Cortes, Marcus Stromanand reigning AL Rookie of the Year Luis Gil. Cortes or Stroman are the most likely trade candidates if New York does indeed add another starter, and mobile pitching could allow the Yankees to address other needs in the lineup or bullpen.