There has been a lot of good news recently on the Walker Buehler front, and it seems as if he is close to making his way back to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Dodgers rotation has been performing well as of late, but with a couple of young and unproven arms in the starting five, having a veteran like Buehler could prove to be an advantage.
Buehler made what is likely his final rehab start for Triple-A Oklahoma City on Tuesday, throwing five innings and 75 pitches. He allowed one run on seven hits with no walks and five strikeouts.
After a solid outing, it seems Buehler is destined to join the Dodgers rotation next, manager Dave Roberts indicated via Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
“I hope so,” Roberts said. “We’ll see how he comes out of it. But if all goes well I think it’s a very likely possibility.”
The rotation as it stands consists of Tyler Glasnow, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, James Paxton, Gavin Stone and Landon Knack, with bullpen games mixed in. Buehler could easily fit in if the Dodgers utilize a six-man rotation, but that seems unlikely.
If the Dodgers stick with a five-man rotation, things get more tricky.
Glasnow and Yamamoto are both locked into a starting role, and after them, there’s a case to be made that any of them could be swapped with Buehler.
James Paxton has limited runs well, but walks have continued to be an issue, and he’s been arguably the Dodgers’ least effective starter. However, they would need to either move him to the bullpen or remove him from the roster, which both seem far-fetched.
Stone has had some ups and downs, but overall, he’s been a solid back-end starter, and Knack has performed well in a limited sample.
Sending Knack back down to Triple-A Oklahoma City and filling his spot with Buehler seems like the obvious choice, but not giving him a chance to continue to prove himself as a dependable back-end starter makes it a hard pill to swallow.
What should the Dodgers do with Walker Buehler?
The choice that makes the most sense is to finally commit to a six-man rotation and have Buehler take that spot, rather than utilizing bullpen games and taxing the relievers every week. That would also allow Ryan Yarbrough to work in a true long-relief role, rather than being limited to roughly one game a week.
The Dodgers’ bullpen has found their groove as of late, but continuing to manage their workload could prove beneficial.
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