Alex Cora Confirms Red Sox Roster Shake-Up as Craig Breslow Finalizes $21M Arm’s Move Amid Yankees Series

With a 7-8 record in their last 15 games and trailing 5 games in the AL East, the Red Sox made a move, shuffled their rotation. After a 6-3 win against the division rival Yankees that broke a three-game losing streak, they decided to move a pitcher whose most recent relief appearance was recording the final three outs of Game 5 of the 2024 World Series.

Manager Alex Cora confirmed that they would move struggling starter Walker Buehler to the bullpen.

“He’s gonna go to the bullpen,” Cora said. “I talked to him last night. [Chief baseball officer Craig] Bres[low] did, too. He’s in a new role. We’ll figure out how it goes. Maybe one inning, multiple innings. Whatever it is, we don’t know yet. He’s a big part of what we’re trying to accomplish.”

Walker Buehler’s turbulent 2025 season is the reason behind this move. After a shoulder inflammation that derailed his season when he had a decent 4-1 record, he was never the same. Buehler holds a 7-7 record with a 5.40 ERA and 1.56 WHIP in his 22 starts. His main issue was allowing too many walks. In his last two innings, he allowed 8 batters, and it brings his season walks to a career high of 54.

Another issue has been allowing too many homers, 21 homers that averaged 1.7 per nine innings.

For the front office, this move was more of a reset than a demotion. The $21M arm himself acknowledged the decision. “The organization and to a lesser extent myself think it’s probably the right thing for our group and gives me an opportunity to reset in some way,” Buehler said.

But with Buehler out of the rotation, who will now be the fifth starter?

Who will fill the void?

In the match against the Yankees, Brayan Bello took Buehler’s place. He has a 9-6 record with a 3.07 ERA and 102 strikeouts in the 135 innings he pitched.

But in the long run, and 34 games still left in the season, the Sox can include pitchers like Richard Fitts, a right-hander acquired from the Yankees. In his 10 starts for Boston this year, Fitts has posted a 4.83 ERA.  Another option can be high-ceiling lefty Kyle Harrison. His recent Triple-A appearance with a 2.22 ERA over his last seven starts was good enough.

And most importantly, this wasn’t Buehler’s first time pitching in relief. He already made eight appearances out of the bullpen with the Dodgers in 2017, where he mainly struggled with a 7.71 ERA in that limited role.

This move will eventually help the Red Sox bullpen, which is already heavily taxed with injuries like Justin Slaten (shoulder), Josh Winckowski (elbow), and Liam Hendriks (hip) all injured. This shift will give the manager some flexibility in the late-season push.