Why did the White Sox make an exception and stray from their strict contract principles for Mark Buehrle?
Because of the exceptional teammate Buehrle is, for one.
Moments after agreeing to a four-year, $56 million contract that escalates if he is traded, Buehrle apologized to his teammates for the in-season disruption.
“Every day, you [reporters] weren’t talking about the game, you were talking about me,” he said. “We have bigger things. We weren’t supposed to be talking about these things during the season because it was taking away from things on the field and the way the team goes about their business.
“I’m glad the deal got done, but at the same time I hope I didn’t take away from guys going out there and concentrating on playing. Seems like every time you guys went up to some of the other guys it was ‘What about Mark? What about the contract?’ instead of ‘What’s the team doing and how are you guys playing right now?'”
Of course, Buehrle’s teammates never seemed to mind not talking about how they were playing, given their record. And almost all of them loved talking about Buehrle as a teammate and friend.
It didn’t hurt that he has won 103 games in a White Sox uniform either.
In the end, the loyalty turned out to be a two-way street for Buehrle and White Sox general manager Ken Williams.
Buehrle gave up becoming a free agent and signing elsewhere for more years and money.
Williams kept intact the team’s insistence that the middle years of the deal not include a no-trade clause but broke company policy by giving a pitcher a four-year deal.
“A lot of people had to be involved in working to get this done,” Buehrle said. “Obviously my agent [Jeff Berry]. He listened to me and my wife [Jamie], realizing how much we wanted to stay here. And obviously it came from the White Sox side too. It takes two sides to get something done and both sides budged enough to [do it].”
The deal wasn’t finalized until the latter innings of Sunday’s 6-3 White Sox victory over Minnesota. In the eighth inning, Buehrle was seen hugging his teammates in the dugout, although he had an inkling before the game it was getting close.
Here are the details:
*Buehrle becomes the highest-paid pitcher in Sox history, making a flat $56 million for four years, or $14 million per year.
*The rest of this season and all of next season have a guaranteed no-trade clause, but from 2009 to July of 2010 Buehrle can be traded, although to a limited number of teams.
*If Buehrle is traded, the contract goes up to $15 million per year and a fifth year is guaranteed at $15 million. In other words, Buehrle could theoretically make as much as $73 million over five years.
*From July of 2010 through 2011, Buehrle can’t be traded without his approval because he will be a 10-year veteran with the last five spent with one team.
*Buehrle will be only 32 years old when the contract expires.
“He really does not lose out on what he potentially could have gotten on the open market as a free agent,” Williams said. “He expressed some desire to stay with us and we tried to make as many concessions as we could without hurting our future and ability to maneuver.”
It was obvious the news was a hit in the clubhouse.
“His teammates are real excited about keeping him here,” manager Ozzie Guillen said. “I’m the happiest guy, besides Buehrle and his agent. I don’t have to deal with [speculation] anymore. Now, I just write his name in the lineup and hopefully he will have a great career with the White Sox.”
Team captain Paul Konerko, who signed for $60 million over five years two winters ago, had been urging the Sox to extend Buehrle.
“We’ve haven’t had a ton to smile about the whole first half, but this was a great day,” Konerko said. “Every winning team has a guy like that. You look at playoff teams, you usually see a guy who is not just a great starter but someone who has a similar makeup [to Buehrle].”
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Off the market
Mark Buehrle’s four-year, $56 million contract extension with the White Sox may be less than he could have earned on the free-agent market after this season. Here’s a look at pitchers who cashed in last off-season: %% PLAYER, TM Avg. $ YR Barry Zito, SF 18M 7 Jason Schmidt, LA 15.6M 3 Vicente Padilla, Tex 11.25 3 Gil Meche, KC 11M 5 Ted Lilly, Cubs 10M 4
Buehrle’s career stats: YR W-L ERA IP 00 4-1 4.21 51.1 01 16-8 3.29 221.1 02 9-12 3.58 239.0 03 14-14 4.14 230.1 04 16-10 3.89 245.1 05 16-8 3.12 236.2 06 12-13 4.99 204.0 07 6-4 3.03 115.2 TOT 103-70 3.77 1,543.2 %% ———–
dvandyck@tribune.com
