Buehrle’s Counteroffer Rejected

More Buehrle!  You know you love it.  According to Buster Olney, Mark Buehrle’s camp proposed an alternative to the full no-trade clause contract.  Buehrle’s side asked for the same four-year, $56MM deal, but with a $17MM player option for 2012 that would kick in in the event of a trade.  That’d put Buehrle’s deal on par with Roy Oswalt’s.  The White Sox rejected the counteroffer. Ken Rosenthal confirms the info. 

There must be something the Sox don’t like about Buehrle, or some secret rebuilding plan in the near future.  The fact remains that the team rejected a heavily discounted contract to retain their 28 year-old ace.  It’s damn near inexcusable to me, and I’m not even a Sox fan.

We’ve been down this road before – but it really looks like a trade is coming in the near future.  Phil Rogers mentioned Kenny Williams’s affinity for Jacoby Ellsbury of the Red Sox and Carlos Gomez of the Mets.  Gomez will be out for four to eight weeks with a fractured wrist bone, but that shouldn’t affect his trade value.  Don’t forget the Dodgers – they could really use some rotation certainty.  It’d probably cost them Matt Kemp.

Thanks to loyal reader Kramerica Industries for the tips.