GLENDALE, Ariz. — In a perfect world, it might have been Walker Buehler who signed a five-year, $136.5 million contract extension with the Dodgers this past winter, short-circuiting his potential free agency next offseason.
But in a perfect world, Buehler would not have had two elbow surgeries in 2022, including Tommy John surgery for the second time since he was drafted by the Dodgers in 2015.
“I don’t know,” Buehler said when asked if he ever lets himself think that Tyler Glasnow got the contract he could have gotten from the Dodgers if he’d stayed healthy. “I think there’s points in my career where I thought I was going to have a chance to change the market for starting pitching and what it looks like, just physically. I’m not the same as a lot of these guys who have gotten $300 million or whatnot. But I’ve had enough success that I was in that area.
“But now – look, I just want to be good and win. I’ve made money. My family is pretty comfortable. I think at some point those numbers are more ego than anything.”
Now, Buehler finds himself entering his ‘walk’ year with questions to answer. Is he the same pitcher who went 39-13 with a 2.82 ERA in his four healthy seasons (2018-2021)? What is the shelf life of a pitcher on his second Tommy John surgery? And who will invest in a 30-year-old (Buehler’s birthday is in July) with that history?
“I mean, when you initially get hurt … the timing of it stinks,” Buehler said. “But I also get a year to show that I am who I always have been.
“I think when I first came up, that’s the goal – get to free agency. But I don’t necessarily think that it means what you think it means when you’re 22, 24 years old. To me, I feel very fortunate that this is my seventh season. Not because that means I get to free agency but because it’s another year that I get to wear a uniform and play. Maybe the injury changes the perspective on that a little bit – especially with last year…
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