The Red Sox have given Walker Buehler the boot.
Manager Alex Cora announced on Friday that Buehler, 31, will be moved to the bullpen until further notice.
“Yeah, he is going to the bullpen,” Cora told reporters before Friday’s game against the Yankees. “I talked to him last night about his new role and we’ll figure out how it goes. Maybe one inning, multiple innings, we don’t know yet.”
Despite the change, Cora insisted that he still believes in Buehler, and that he is going to “help us out.”
“I still believe in him,” Cora added. “He is a big part of what we are trying to accomplish…hopefully he can reset, go out there and pound the strike zone and simplify the attack and help us win ballgames.”
Cora has yet to name a starter for Monday’s game against the Orioles, which was slated as Buehler’s next start.
Buehler’s demotion comes after an unimpressive season so far with the Red Sox, where the righty has pitched to a 7-7 record with a 5.40 ERA through 22 starts.
In his past two starts, Buehler has given up six earned runs while walking eight and surrendering eight hits.
When asked about the move, the two-time All-Star said that it was likely the best decision for the team and that he will “try to embrace” the new role.
“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 told reporters Friday. “In terms of this year’s team, I think it’s the right thing to do … I’ll try to embrace it for the next couple of months.”
Buehler, who signed a one-year deal worth $21.05 million with the Red Sox in December, also gave a blunt assessment of how his stuff has been this season, saying that his pitches have “sucked” throughout the year.
“It’s hard to say these two are the winners when they all kind of sucked all year,” he said.