ace off base?

i recently read a couple of clickbait sort of articles about walker buehler's decision to leave the dodger camp and continue his rehab in florida - away from the club's facilities. my take was that these articles were looking to drum up some drama, and i regret giving them clicks. he's back with the dodgers' triple-a team and made his second start a couple of days ago.

i've enjoyed playing card themed insert sets way more than the actual baseball playing card sets from the 1990's, and i have a couple of recent examples to share. the first one is from 2022 panini mosaic

and is the mosaic prizm parallel. the next is from 2023 topps update

and is part of the "all aces" insert set.

while i chose to complete the 2000 pacific invincible aces of the diamond set, i decided not to complete either of the two above sets, although the "all aces" set was on the bubble for quite some time.

back to buehler, he is a free agent at the end of the season so the next couple of months are pretty critical. i certainly support whatever approach he felt was best to get him back on the mound, and more importantly, the dodgers showed support as well.