Hurly Buehrle

Rumors are swirling around Yawkey Way regarding the possible acquisition of Chicago's Mark Buehrle to bolster the rotation for a playoff run. Although it is true that a club can never have enough good pitching, I don't think the benefits Buehrle would bring outweighs the king's ransom we'd need to pay for four months of his service.

Mark Buehrle, the 28-year old lefthander who has spent his entire career on the South Side of the Windy City, has accumulated a 3.80 lifetime ERA and a 101-70 record during the eight seasons and 1,521 innings he spent on the hill for the ChiSox. He has a lifetime WHIP of 1.249, striking out 5.2 and walking 2 batters per nine innings.

Reports out of Boston have indicated that Theo and the crew are considering Buehrle only has a mid-season rental, implying that they'd use him for the stretch run and then allow him to test the free agent waters. This is a normal gambit, which would provide insurance for a questionable Curt Schilling and keep the lefty out of any of our rival's rotations. The names being thrown about in speculation, however, are the marquee names of our minor league system: Buchholz, Bowden, Ellsbury, and Lowrie. If the front office saw Buehrle as the #3 starter for this ballclub for the forseeable future, I could fathom allowing one of these guys to leave; sacrificing these prospects to marginally improve the team with the best record in baseball seems a bit shortsighted.

Although he is a talented hurler and has a World Series ring to his credit, there are several factors that indicate to me that he may not be the best fit to contribute to a playoff-bound Sox club. Firstly, flyball-pitching lefthanders starting at Fenway Park are one of the leading causes of chest pain across New England. Also, most free agents who have made their maiden voyage to Boston in the past couple of years require a significant amount of time to adjust to the Northeastern pressure-cooker. Lugo, Drew, Crisp, Beckett, Pena, and Renteria are just a few marquee players who took a significant amount of time to adjust to the bright lights of Fenway.

An important element of this transaction, however, is the fact that Buehrle is a Type A free agent, meaning whoever he ends the year with can offer him arbitration and will receive either another season from the southpaw at about $11 million dollars or a pair of compensatory draft picks in 2008. With the way the Sox have been drafting in the past couple of years, Yawkey Way could consider these two picks to carry more value than a pair of mid-level prospects.

So if Theo can lure Buehrle to Boston for a handful of minor-league filler we've never heard of, it'll be tough to complain. If he pays through the nose for this marginal upgrade, however, I'll be sure to scoff and shrug loud enough for all our loyal readers to hear.