Notes: Buehler, Sasaki, Santander
12/27/2024 09:02 AM
Walker Buehler's time as a Dodger ended in the most perfect fashion, closing out the World Series on just one day of rest. Now, the two-time All Star will call Fenway Park his new home for the 2025 season.
Buehler signed a one-year, $21.05 million deal with the Boston Red Sox on Monday, a price tag that would've equaled a qualifying offer extended to him, but the Dodgers declined to do so. He joins a Boston rotation that recently acquired former White Sox ace Garrett Crochet and posted the seventh best ERA for starting pitching last season.
Buehler does leave the Dodgers as a two-time World Series champion, and there is no love lost between the front office and the Red Sox starter, per Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times.
"What Walker did, what he has done for us, what he did for us this year, his teammates, that does not go lost on us," general manager Brandon Gomes said last month... "I played my whole career here, I love playing here," Buehler said during the World Series. "I wouldn't have had it any other way."
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MLB teams have four weeks to bring in the top Japanese free agent on the open market, Roki Sasaki. The 23-year-old has already met with five teams so far, including both New York squads, however, the Dodgers still remain as the favorite to sign Sasaki, per Jon Heyman of the New York Post.
Both the Yankees and Mets were given meetings with superstar Japanese pitcher Roki Sasaki but both surely understand they're not the favorites here. The Dodgers remain favored, followed by the Padres.
Heyman also notes that free agent outfielder Anthony Santander is on the table for the Dodgers if they fail to bring back Teoscar Hernández.
Santander became an All-Star for the first time in his career last season, slashing .235/.308/.506 with a career high 44 home runs and 102 RBI, posting a 129 wRC+ and 3.3 fWAR with the Baltimore Orioles. He became the first switch hitter to hit 40 or more home runs since Carlos Beltrán and Lance Berkman in 2006.
