The Mark Buehrle saga is starting to wear on White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen.
“It’s soap opera thing,” Guillen said Friday night as he and the Sox awaited an announcement on whether Buehrle’s four-year, $56 million contract had been finalized. “Now I can say that’s between the front office and him.”
Guillen has stayed out of negotiations since talking late Wednesday night with assistant general manager Rick Hahn. The Sox are likely to trade Buehrle if they can’t reach an agreement but are optimistic a deal could be finalized by the time Buehrle takes the mound Monday against Baltimore.
“I don’t even care any more,” Guillen said. “If Buehrle signs, good. If he doesn’t sign, good luck. I don’t know how much they offered — $56 [million]?”
Guillen knows that once Buehrle’s status is resolved, the attention will shift to potential free agents Jermaine Dye and Tadahito Iguchi.
First baseman/captain Paul Konerko described Buehrle’s future as a “coin flip.”
“All I can tell you and anybody out there is that Mark doesn’t want to go, he wants to stay here,” Konerko said. “He’s trying his best, but we’ll see.”
Injury update
Wet conditions postponed plans for Dye to test his right quadriceps muscle until Saturday, with the hope he can return to the lineup no later than Monday.
Dye said he’s unavailable even to pinch-hit, but the Sox told Dye they weren’t going to place him on the disabled list, retroactive to June 23, because they weren’t going to promote a player from Triple-A Charlotte.
“Hopefully, [the injury] doesn’t take 15 days [to heal],” Dye said.
The development of infielder Andy Gonzalez as an outfielder has reduced any urge to put Dye on the DL and call up an outfielder from Charlotte, Guillen said.
Extra innings
Nick Masset is the leading candidate to start one of the games of the July 6 doubleheader against Minnesota, pending use of the Sox’s bullpen in the next six days, pitching coach Don Cooper said. … Reliever Dewon Day (back) will start a minor-league rehab assignment Saturday at Charlotte. … Danny Richar hit his first home run Friday night for Charlotte in a 5-2 loss at Syracuse. He made his third start at shortstop for the Knights after six games at second following the trade from the Arizona organization. Richar is batting .351.
