Veteran right-hander Walker Buehler has agreed to a one-year deal with the Padres, a source told MLB.com on Monday night.
The club has not confirmed the agreement, which is a Minor League deal and pending a physical.
The 31-year-old Buehler is the third experienced starter San Diego has added within the last week, joining Griffin Canning and Germán Márquez. The Padres also signed veteran southpaw Marco Gonzales earlier in the month.
They are expected to compete with JP Sears, Matt Waldron, Randy Vásquez and Triston McKenzie for the final rotation spots behind Michael King, Nick Pivetta and Joe Musgrove.
Ever since undergoing his second Tommy John surgery in August 2022, Buehler has been working to recapture the form that made him one of the best pitchers in baseball early in his career. Over his first four full seasons with the Dodgers (2018-21), Buehler went a combined 39-13 in 95 games (94 starts), posting a 2.82 ERA, 146 ERA+ and 0.99 WHIP. He finished third in the 2018 NL Rookie of the Year Award voting, made two NL All-Star teams and twice placed in the NL Cy Young Award race (ninth in 2019, fourth in ‘21).
Buehler also excelled under the bright lights in October. Across those four seasons, he started 15 postseason games for the Dodgers and turned in a 2.94 ERA. When the 2020 Dodgers claimed the franchise’s first title in 32 years, Buehler allowed just five total runs over five starts, including dominant outings in Game 6 of the NLCS against the Braves (an elimination game) and Game 3 of the World Series against the Rays.
Unfortunately for Buehler, following a career-best season in 2021 (16-4, 2.47 ERA), he went on the injured list after 12 starts in 2022. He eventually underwent a flexor tendon repair in his right arm along with his second Tommy John surgery. (His first came shortly after the Dodgers selected him 24th overall in the 2015 Draft out of Vanderbilt.)
It was nearly two full years before Buehler returned to action in May 2024, and when he did, he simply was not the same pitcher. Buehler made 16 starts for the Dodgers in ‘24, 22 for the ‘25 Red Sox (after signing a one-year, $21.05 million deal, plus a mutual option) and two more for the ‘25 Phillies, who picked him up after the Red Sox released him in August. Across those two seasons, he went a combined 11-13 with a 5.10 ERA, 80 ERA+ and 1.53 WHIP.
Even amid those struggles, Buehler managed to put together a gutsy postseason performance to prop up an undermanned Dodgers rotation during the team’s 2024 title run. After one tough start against the Padres in the NLDS, Buehler finished that October with 10 scoreless innings, spanning two starts (NLCS Game 3 and World Series Game 3), plus his championship-clinching save in World Series Game 5.
While there was hope that performance was a sign of things to come, Buehler’s regular season results improved only slightly, if at all, in Boston and Philadelphia. In 2025, he ranked in just the ninth percentile in strikeout rate and 15th percentile in walk rate, down from 65th and 78th, respectively, in his last full pre-surgery season in ‘21. Buehler was in the Phillies’ bullpen for the 2025 NLDS matchup against his former Dodgers club, but he did not appear in any of the four games before Los Angeles advanced.