WHY BUEHRLE IN THE BRONX IS WEIRD, BUT POSSIBLE

The Yankees have actually managed to Frankenstein together a very successful rotation in spite of off-season failures and Hughes’ sudden drop in velocity. Ivan Nova, Freddy Garcia, and Bartolo Colon have all been incredibly pleasant surprises. Each of them have turned in a single bad outing a piece to go with a plethora of starts ranging from just quality to downright dazzling. (For the record, I don’t count Nova’s poor outing in Boston, he should’ve been out of that but Cano made a rare mistake to screw him over.) As for CC Sabathia, he was iffy the other day, but with a sub-3 ERA, he’s still shown he’s a true ace, and AJ Burnett is finally looking like what the Yankees signed him to be.

If nothing else, Garcia and Colon are eating innings and not forcing us to rush the young guys. But like a famous Sports Illustrated cover story about the Yankees’ early 2000s rotation once said, "...You can never have too much pitching."

Colon has looked like an ace in every single outing except for his last against Texas. Garcia has often made All-Star hitters look like high schoolers with no idea what they’re doing out there, but there’s no ignoring the fact that they’re both pretty old. They average out to be 35.5 years old, and neither of them is like Mo who never seems to age. Bartolo and Freddy show their age. They look older, move like they’re older, throw like they’re older and have a lengthy injury history like any aging athlete. That being said, they’ve done well, but due to the uncertainty of their future, it’s almost a foregone conclusion that the Yankees will at very least attempt to make a big trade to obtain a top of the line pitcher.

Let’s not sugar coat it, the White Sox have looked horrible this year without qualification. They currently stand at 13-22, good for last in the AL Central, and with a 2-8 record over the last 10 games, they don’t look like they’re making any great strides towards having a winning record, much less winning the division. Usually a team only gives up a great pitcher if they seem to be out of the race, and if the White Sox continue down this road, it would only make sense that the Chicago White Sox ace Mark Buehrle would be the perfect candidate for a trade. In fact, BYB's been talking about Buehrle for a while now, we like him. Read WHY YOU CAN'T BLAME CASH from February, or, WHY I'M IN A NEW YORK STATE OF MIND from back in December. How about WHY THERE'S NO JOY IN MUDVILLE, a smart piece that was posted once Cliff Lee decided he was afraid to pitch in New York. We think Buehrle would be perfect.

Now I know you're going to say that MLB Trade Rumors has a piece out about how the White Sox are not ready to make any major changes. read it HERE. I'm telling you, you just never know.Yes, the fact is, Buehrle is a Chi-town fan favorite. He's has thrown a no-hitter and a perfect game with the White Sox in his 11 years there and arguably the face of the franchise. It may seem unfathomable that a team would ever trade away their most popular player, but here’s the catch: Buehrle’s contract expires at the end of the season. There’s a $15 million vesting option that kicks in if he’s traded, so the Yankees could get him for an extra season, but if he’s not traded, he becomes a free agent at the end of the season and if we happen to come along and snatch him away with piles of cash and the promise of a championship, the Sox will have lost their ace and have nothing to show for it. If they trade him, they could get some solid prospects, maybe a Brackman, Heathcott, Noesi, and Nuñez, to brighten their future and essentially only lose 3 meaningless months with Buehrle. Then, when he hits free agency again after the 2012 season, they could try to bring him right back. There’s always the chance that he’d be huge in New York and we could offer him a monster contract to stay, but if the price was right, the Sox would gladly risk parting ways for good, and with the championship rings a trade to the Bronx would bring, I’m certain Buehrle would embrace it. In the past, he’s said he’s loved his time in Chicago but from here on out, it’s all about winning, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see him ditch Chi-town for good.

To me, Buehrle simply appears to be one of those guys who’d fit in in the Bronx. He’s confident, but not cocky, he has experience pitching in a big city, has a ton of class, and has a few former teammates on the Yanks that could help ease him in (Garcia, Colon, Swisher, Jones, Logan). Perhaps just as important, Buehrle’s durable and a finesse oriented lefty. Sound familiar? It may be hard to fill the shoes of baseball's post-season all-time wins leader, but if there’s anyone that could really fill in the hole Andy Pettitte left, it’s Mark Buehrle.

With Sabathia as the only lefty in the rotation and Boone Logan the only LOOGY in the pen, the Yanks desperately need another lefty arm. Buehrle starts over 30 games per year, throws over 200 innings, and is a solid post-season performer (4.11 ERA, 2-1 record). Simply put, Mark Buehrle is a guy who knows what it takes to win. he is, dare I say, Yankee-esque.

There’s no guarantee the Yanks make the big splash on the trade market that everyone is expecting, but if the Yanks trade for anyone to bolster the rotation, I’d expect Buehrle to be one of the first names out there.



--Grant Cederquist, BYB Staff Writer



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