From today's Sun Times:

 

No longer a gone-slinger

Odds aren't that great, but at least Buehrle's departure doesn't seem inevitable anymore

 

April 27, 2007

BY JOE COWLEY Staff Reporter

There's a memorable scene at the end of ''The Good, the Bad and the Ugly'' in which ''Blondie,'' played by Clint Eastwood, lets everyone know who's holding all the cards.

 

Pointing a gun at Eli Wallach's ''Tuco,'' he tells him, ''You see, in this world there's two kinds of people, my friend -- those with loaded guns, and those who dig. You dig.''

 

That scene was enough to make me want to move out west when I was a kid and grow up to be an outlaw. At least until I saw ''Fletch'' and wanted to be a journalist.

 

A similar scene played out this spring in the dry desert of Tucson, Ariz. -- the perfect setting for Mark Buehrle's ''Blondie'' moment.

 

The White Sox left-hander was bombarded with questions about his pending free agency after this season, and when he admitted that he turned down a three-year, $30 million deal last July, he was asked if he had any regrets.

 

''None,'' he said without hesitation. ''Not at all.''

 

Buehrle knew he was holding all the cards.

 

As for the Sox -- ''You dig.''

 

That no longer appears to be the case, however. Call it a no-hitter hangover, Buehrle simply mellowing as the season goes on -- or maybe team chairman Jerry Reinsdorf really can sell a PlayStation 3 to an Amish man -- but Buehrle's stance on returning to the Sox next season seems softer, and for the first time, a deal looks doable.

 

Buehrle confessed this week that he and Reinsdorf had a heart-to-heart at the end of spring training, and his seemingly inevitable departure for more money is no longer set in stone.

 

''Yeah, that's definitely a possibility now,'' Buehrle said, when asked if there was a scenario that would bring him back. ''People think I don't want to stay here, but I do want to stay. Hopefully, in the offseason, something will be done before I even go out there and start visiting other teams. That would be the best-case scenario.

 

'Jerry basically told me, 'Just give us a chance to match it.' I promised him that I will. Jerry told me he had no problem with me going out there and seeing what I'm worth, what I'm offered, and then said, 'Come back to us and see if we can match it or come close to it, see if we have a chance and go from there.'''

 

Buehrle is willing to do that, to take the ''Paul Konerko route.'' Not out of duty, but because he actually wants to stay.

 

''It's a personal thing,'' Buehrle said. ''Some guys just leave. They don't like the manager or the ballpark they play in. Or they don't like the direction the team is going in. It's a personal decision, and mine is to give [the Sox] every chance that I can to get me back here.''

 

Make no mistake, the odds of Buehrle returning are still slim.

 

But one aspect has changed since spring training: No one is being forced to dig.

 

Some good quotes in there and probably the most optimistic I've heard Mark about possibly returning to the Sox.

I hope that is true. For some reason I've been positrive about Mark staying with the Sox.

I still don't have any faith that he's returning, but I better be wrong or it's going to be a sad, sad day.

I'll miss him as much as anyone, but I won't miss that 6 year, 90 million deal he'll probably get.

I love MB, but I can not celebrate any comments about signing until it is after he re-signs with the White Sox.

It would be nice if he does but with the way the market is looking Im sure there will be a few teams throwing a ton at him. We'll just ave to see what happens.

thinking about Mark leaving makes me remember how much i love this guy. I hope he stays.

Let's hope the Konerko route includes a world series victory.

Mark is just a really classy guy, and it would be a shame to see him walk away. But at the same time, he knows he's worth a lot of money . . . Oooooo please bring Mark back in '08 and beyond!

Now I wonder who is going to budge on the contract. The Sox only give pitchers 3 year contracts, and Buehrle will more than likely be offered something between 4-6 years.

 

That might be the biggest hurdle.

encouraging to me that he talked to JR without his agent around.

 

that's a plus.

I'm usually pretty optimistic when it comes to areas like this, and I said all spring training that I think he'll come back. Just a hunch, but he's the exact type of pitcher you can break the prototypical rule with, and he'll be as close to worth the money he's going to get as any pitcher on the market. He seems to really represent the city of Chicago as a whole very well, and he's a pretty damn good pitcher to top if off.

 

I see him coming back, but maybe I'm just a lunatic.

I don't think it's a coincidence the team started playing better after Mark's no-hitter. He really seems to be a key leader--the kind they might "overpay" for, in terms of yrs or dollars. With that in mind, I could see the sox building a rotation around him with a 5 yr deal, around $15 mill per. While he's not the overpowering ace, he is that rock who will go 6-7 innings each game, throw 200 + innings, with a mid 3 ERA. Getting solid starting pitching will still be a key for the sox. Yet they can't spend half their team salary on it. That would mean the sox would probably have to deal Contreras in the offseason. That way the sox could still get a good return and lower salary.

 

I guess it depends on how high and long teams are willing to go in their offers to Mark. It may come to a point that the sox can't go that high.

I just think it's going to be too much money and too many years. Reinsdorf doesn't like to go more than three years for pitchers and if Buehrle's agent is worth anything he'll be asking for something comparable to the seven years that Zito got. I think Reinsdorf may be more sentimental than people realize and would stretch his principles a little bit to re-ink Mark but there's just too big of a gap between three years and six years. The shame in all this is that Mark's value was at an all time low in the offseason and something like four years at $13 might've gotten things done but Kenny had a huge chip on his shoulder about the exploding free agent market. Now, assuming Buehrle puts up his typical year, if we're going to match another team's offer I think we're going to need to come up with more like six years at $15 or 16 million and I can't see that happening.

I'll believe it when I see it. This could very well be a guy worried about getting booed all year, so he is just saying all of the right things.

pure politics. Now the blame is soley going to be on the Sox when we cant match the offer.

I'll believe it when I see it. This could very well be a guy worried about getting booed all year, so he is just saying all of the right things.

pure politics. Now the blame is soley going to be on the Sox when we cant match the offer.

 

And I applaud Mark for being PR savy enough to do that.

I just think it's going to be too much money and too many years. Reinsdorf doesn't like to go more than three years for pitchers and if Buehrle's agent is worth anything he'll be asking for something comparable to the seven years that Zito got. I think Reinsdorf may be more sentimental than people realize and would stretch his principles a little bit to re-ink Mark but there's just too big of a gap between three years and six years. The shame in all this is that Mark's value was at an all time low in the offseason and something like four years at $13 might've gotten things done but Kenny had a huge chip on his shoulder about the exploding free agent market. Now, assuming Buehrle puts up his typical year, if we're going to match another team's offer I think we're going to need to come up with more like six years at $15 or 16 million and I can't see that happening.

 

Buehrle was never going to accept 4 years at any point in time. If Gil Meche can get 5 years for being mediocre as hell, and Jason Marquis can get $7 mill a year over 3 years for being the worst starting pitcher in the NL last year, I'm sure Buehrle was and never has been willing to accept anything less than 5/$65, and that will be if he's mediocre as hell this year. Buehrle's agent isn't quite Scott Boras - though I don't recall who it is off the top of my head - but I imagine he is easily going to get 5/$75, and he could even be looking at 5/$90 or 6/$100 or something in the neighborhood. I can see the Sox going 5 years for Buehrle with a couple options attached to the end just because he is an exception, but they'll be speculative of even that due to his 2nd half in 2006, so if they are, they are going to want to include a way of getting out of the deal after 3 years if anything at all happens to Buehrle. Whether Buehrle is cool with that or not is completely up to him.