Jen McCaffrey of MassLive.com reported that the “32-year-old Buchholz made quite a case for himself over the last six weeks of the season as to why the Red Sox should exercise his $13.5 million option for the 2017 season.” In eight starts between August and September, Buchholz went 4-1, putting his season’s second half ERA to 3.22, a much more respectable figure than the 5.91 ERA that preceded it.
At the end of May, it looked like Buchholz had lost favor with the Red Sox, being bucked from the starting rotation and into the bullpen.