The Case For The Cubs Signing Mark Buehrle

But, a small point I’d like to make: the White Sox/Cardinals business isn’t wholly a non-issue. If Buehrle came over, and got off to a slow start, he’d probably be on a shorter leash with fans than other players who don’t have his background. Maybe the fan reaction doesn’t matter, but if the fans hate you, it certainly can’t help get your season turned around.

I’m just sick at this other gossipy tweet:

What? John Wetteland didn’t answer the phone?

Durable, innings eater, good guy, left handed. This should be our main target!

Seems like a guy that’s consistent throughout his career. He could be worth 10-12M for a couple more years. His delivery is pretty fluid and doesn’t seem to put a lot of stress on his elbow or shoulder. He only throws the curve 10% of the time, too, but has 5 pitches in his repertoire.

A quality lefty, who knows our division.

It would be as good as the Ted Lilly signing was. Can’t imagine he can keep up the 3+ WAR over the life of a contract, but it’s worth a shot.

while also rebuilding the farm system. Is this smart?

He would be a 2nd pitching coach as well, since he is the epitome of how to actually pitch, ala Maddux. Unless he gets insane offers, I say it’s worth a shot. Particularly if we DO build a team around defense next year.

How about Bruce Chen though? Solid starter with less mileage. Would be a solid 2/3 for us

To change my mind when the facts change.

As such …. I don’t normally care for Phil Rogers, but this AM on Mully and Hanley, he mentioned that it seems that Buehrle’s priorities may have changed. Instead of openly pondering retirement, he now seems to really care about his baseball legacy. If this is indeed true, I may be able to stomach Buehrle with the Cubs.

Of course, this is as long as he can shut his stupid pie hole on how he’d like to pitch for the Cardinals, even 1 game to retire as one. If Buehrle can be professional about it, so can I. Perhaps he has matured. There are lots of other things to be concerned with, such as being afraid when going to New York, but perhaps he’s grown up there too.

I still find it very, very unlikely he signs with the Cubs because it would tarnish his White Sox legacy, but if he can show signs of not being the person he was before, I might be OK wirh it.

which breaks the rule that you should never, ever compare anyone to Jamie Moyer. (See also: Bo Jackson) But that mostly refers to prospects, not current major leaguers. But my point is that I believe that Buehrle is the type of guy who is going to age well.

Twenty-seven years ago, Bill James came up with the “Tommy John Family” of pitchers, defined as:

1. Left-Handed
2. Good Control.
3. Outstanding Moves to first
4. Ground-Ball pitcher
5. Relatively few strikeouts

This describes Buehrle to a T.

Generally, these guys age pretty well. Now the one problem is that these pitchers do tend to be more team-dependent and that they have trouble winning with a poor defense behind them. But we have to assume that the Jed is going to work on improving the Cubs defense and that we have to hope that the Cubs aren’t going to be a bad team beyond 2012.

I’m all in favor of signing Buehrle for the right price. The idea of not leaving Chicago might appeal to him.

I understand that Theo isn’t necessarily looking for “past performance”, but at some point, you need some veteran experience in the pitching staff, especially when you call up some kid who’s never pitched in the majors before. Being an Arsenal fan (and if your an Arsenal fan, you’ll know where I’m going with this), the average age of that team is like 20 years old, and it kills us in big time situations occasionally. Veterans help ease the transition over, give good advice that they’ve garnered over the years, and Buehrle is one of the best veteran pitchers out there currently. Do we overpay for him to come to Wrigley? I’m not sure, it all depends on what other teams bids and figures are, but for the most part, I feel like Buehrle would be an awesome fit for us.

And though I’ll admit there seems to be a stronger possibility now that he might, I think it would take Theo & Jed making the absolute best offer on the market — which more than likely would mean overpaying. I don’t fault them for having discussions with Buehrle, though, as he certainly could be a stabilizing force in any rotation.

And, just out of curiousity, I wandered over to SSS to see what they’re saying. You can peruse that thread here. You might also check out the 2009 Trib article posted there, which provides one example of the kind of pointed remarks Buehrle has made about the Cubs and Wrigley Field in the past.

I am in favor of any pitcher that is more of a control/soft tosser to break up the parade of fireballers the Cubs trot out every series, I think having a totally different hurler to deal with in a series helps keep the opposition off balance. It always worked that way against the Cubs lol

But I am going to ask something random. Its been a couple years since I was a regular on this site so I am sorry if I didnt take the time to search….

What is this I hear about the possibility of trading for David Wright. I have moved to Tampa, FL, so my local Cubs news has been slacking a little bit… time to get back on track before spring training.

Here is what he had to say. This coming from a guy who had never heard of him

Anyway, the point is that the Mesa team is made up of minor leaguers from the Cubs, Orioles,Pirates, Twins and White Sox and playing in the game was a Cubs minor leaguer named D.J.LeMahieu. He’s a 23 year old from Visalia,Ca., 6’4" 205 lb. 1st baseman playing with the Iowa AAA club.
He was 2 for 3 with a walk, stole 2nd once, made a great playing catching a guy in a rundown, and generally looked good. Watch for him.

Front load the contract for once if you have to.

All the guy does is pitch well and eat innings without being injured. The only way you ‘overpay’ for a pitcher like that is if you go $20m/year for them. If Ryan Dempster is worth $14m, then Buehrle is easily worth $16m/year.

A) He’s 4.5 years younger than Buehrle.

B) Recently, he’s been better. Jackson has 11.2 WAR over the past three years versus 10.5 WAR for Buehrle (from Fangraphs).

C) I think he’ll cost less, because Buehrle has a stronger reputation around the league.

I’m not sure if I remember this correctly, but I thought Buehrle once said that he’d never pitch for the Cubs. From what I remember, he was quite adamant about that. I think it was the last time he was up for a new contract. It doesn’t make sense, unless he was just saying that in a “WWE” style of speech to excite Sox fans & piss off Cub fans.

Been there, done that. Quit paying for over the hill pitchers like Buerhle. The Cubs have money, spend it on getting some quality players for once, instead of settling for has-beens and never-will-bes.

Or make banana bread. Moyer anyone?

Sometimes you have to pay the piper. Considering the Ortiz-Lopez-Davis-Russell fiasco of last year, this definitely seems like one of those times.

I know Mark a little through charity things I’ve been involved with. I adore him. He has teased me that he and Konerko will turn me yet :). I have never made secret my love of Konerko and Buerhle on these boards.

On a side note he and Kerry Wood are close friends as their wives are too. They are both heavily involved in a couple of the same charities.

But I think he’s too expensive for the Cubs needs right now. I think the money is better spent elsewhere.

If he does sign with the Cubs would that be the biggest name ever to switch sides while still having some good years left or into their career?

Obviously Sosa and Santo were different stories. While they were huge names Sammy was just starting when he became a Cub and Santo was at the end when he became a Sox.

…just to watch the heads of fans of the other Chicago team explode.

Not quite as good but he’s very similar to Maddux in many ways. Off the field as well. Great guy. Very smart in the game.