Mark Buehrle Off To Miami

You can’t blame Mark Buehrle for fleeing the White Sox. First of all, the Miami Marlins are throwing $58 million his way in a four-year deal. And secondly, who knows what the White Sox are going to be like in 2012?

Buehrle was just about the best pitcher available in free agency. He is rock-solid reliable, throwing 200 or more innings every year, winning double-figure games every year. He never gets hurt and he is only 32.

Buehrle’s got 161 career wins in 12 seasons, all with Chicago. The starting rotation has gone around in circles around Buehrle and now they will have to live without him at U.S. Cellular Field.

New manager Robin Ventura loses out and general manager Kenny Williams is frantically trying to alter the makeup of a team that underachieved last year.

Turns out the Marlins weren’t kidding when they began wooing free agents and flashing blank checks in anticipation of opening a new stadium in 2012. They seized Ozzie Guillen as the new manager, who should be a perfect fit, grabbed reigning National League batting champ Jose Reyes, and closer Heath Bell. And now they have added Buehrle, a lefty whose talents are not easily matched by anyone else on the open market.

No one can suggest that the Marlins aren’t trying.

Speaking of perfect, there are not many pitchers around who can ever say they hurled a perfect game at any level and Buehrle is one of them. Buehrle has a Major League perfect game and another no-hitter on his resume. He also won his third Gold Glove in 2011 for his artistry fielding his position.

In watching baseball for a half century, I have never witnessed a live no-hitter, though at other levels of the game yes. I had no control over it, but I will forever be kicking myself for attending the White Sox-Tampa Bay game the day before Buehrle pitched his perfect game instead of the next night. As I said, I had no control over it since I traveled out of town on business the next day, but man it will always feel like a missed opportunity.

Nor did I see Buehrle’s other no-hitter, against the Texas Rangers, in person. However, I did get the chance to talk to him about it a couple of days later when the buzz had subsided somewhat.

“When I see my name connected to a no-hitter, it seems unreal,” he said. “It’s kind of overwhelming.”

Buehrle said that it was slow to sink in as a reality when the White Sox captured the 2005 World Series, too.

Typical of a guy whose passions are hunting and fishing, he said he appreciated the glow from that championship when he was sitting quietly in a tree stand deer hunting during the off-season.

During the Rangers game, Buehrle said he disdained the superstition about no mention of a no-hitter in progress. He said he was aware of it all the way and he brought it up when teammates wouldn’t. Didn’t jinx him any, apparently.

There will be a lot of teams that feel as if they missed an opportunity with Buehrle once he starts doing his thing with the Marlins next season. Maybe Buehrle is an acquired taste since he doesn’t throw 100 mph, but he is incredibly durable and consistent and those are probably underrated qualities in the modern game.

He has won at least 13 games in a season nine times and is a four-time American League All-Star.

So the White Sox chapter of Buehrle’s career closes and the Miami chapter begins, with one constant. Guillen will still be his manager. That has to be comforting when you are moving to a new environment. Buehrle does not seem to be a Miami free spirit. He might get in some adventurous off-shore fishing on off days, but he will still be pitching for the manager who knows him best.

For whatever reason, in his mind, Buehrle decided it was time to leave Chicago. And for whatever reason, the Cardinals, the team he rooted for as a boy, didn’t seem appealing. He is probably a little bit surprised himself that his next pitching address is Miami. But there is every reason to believe the change will work out well for him.