Mike Nadel: Rein$dorf's games could signal ace's departure
If I'm Mark Buehrle (and we often get mistaken for each other because of our similar hairstyles and bank-account balances), I'm marching into Jerry Reinsdorf's office and saying: "Now my price is $75 million for five years - and you're still getting a bargain, pal."
And if the White Sox chairman were to ask why, I'd counter with a question of my own: "Have you been on Saturn the last couple of days?"
In the latest edition of Mark's Last Hurrah, Buehrle was brilliant in Saturday's 3-1 victory over the Minnesota Twins. He scattered six hits over eight shutout innings and stayed out of trouble by inducing four double plays.
Buehrle's performance was like night and day from Friday's day-night, double-admission, double-humiliation double-header in which Sox pitchers were bludgeoned by a Twins team not exactly known for offensive firepower. Justin Morneau had nine RBIs in Minnesota's 20-14 and 12-0 victories - as many as Sox "star" Jermaine Dye has in the last month.
I wouldn't have blamed shell-shocked Sox patrons for bringing hard hats and flak jackets to The Cell on Saturday.
Instead, many of the 36,791 folks in attendance brought signs proclaiming their love for their staff ace.
In the eighth inning, fans chanted: "Re-sign Buehrle! Re-sign Buehrle!" After retiring the side (and with Bobby Jenks ready to pitch the ninth), he responded to a standing ovation by taking off his cap and waving.
Was Buehrle waving good-bye? GM Ken Williams, following Reinsdorf's orders, has said Buehrle will have to go if the left-hander keeps insisting upon a full no-trade clause as part of a four-year, $56 million contract.
Throughout the day, Buehrle rewarded his loyalists with a typically efficient outing. He threw strikes, worked quickly, let his fielders make plays and held the Twins at bay until Sox batters finally put a few runs on the board. We've seen dozens of similar outings over the years from Buehrle, Chicago's pitcher of the millennium by a wide margin. His no-hitter in April served as confirmation that his poor second half last year was an aberration.
Because the team's metamorphosis from champs to chumps is complete, the Buehrle saga is all there is on the South Side.
Since they were 56-29 on July 6, 2006, the Sox have gone 72-90 while playing the equivalent of a 162-game season. So, naturally, Reinsdorf is willing to dump one of his few dependable players. Sounds logical to me.
Burned by Jaime Navarro a decade ago, the chairman refuses to give long-term contracts to pitchers, even those as reliable, durable, young and popular as the 28-year-old Buehrle.
Although Buehrle easily would command six years and $90 million on the open market, he agreed to a huge hometown discount. His only proviso was that he didn't want to be traded during the next four years.
It seems reasonable. If Buehrle wanted to pitch for the Red Sox, Mets or Angels, he'd wait for the offseason and get big money from one of those teams. Why should he accept less from the White Sox, who then could unload him and his attractive salary?
Listening to Buehrle on Saturday, it sounds as if the chairman is playing his usual Rein$dorfian games, messing with parts of the deal to which the sides already had agreed. It's never been enough for Reinsdorf to make deals; he always has to WIN them - even with all-time greats such as Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Frank Thomas.
After his previous start, Buehrle had said he was 100 percent sure he'd be back on the mound for the White Sox.
Saturday, he put the chances at no better than 50-50 that he'll make Friday's schedule start in Baltimore because things now were "a little more discouraging."
Ozzie Guillen called Buehrle "special" but, remembering who butters his bread, the manager quickly added that life would go on without the pitcher.
I give more credence to team captain Paul Konerko's words: "Personally, you don't want to see one of your friends go. But as a team ... in any season or any situation that you
could ever map out to try and have a winning team, it's gonna include somebody like Mark. We have him, and I say, 'Don't let him go.'"
Failing that, Reinsdorf should let Buehrle go ... and start getting used to those enjoyable 20-14 and 12-0 games.
Mike Nadel (mikenadel@sbcglobal.net) is the Chicago sports columnist for GateHouse News Service. Read his blog, The Baldest Truth, at www.thebaldesttruth.com <http://www.thebaldesttruth.com> .