Craig Heist, wtop.com
Dallas — Shortly after saying he felt good about the Nationals’ presentation in attempting to sign free-agent Mark Buehrle, Mike Rizzo learned while on a national radio show that Buehrle had agreed to a four-year, $58 million deal with the Miami Marlins.
While there had to be some disappointment in not being able to land their “number one free-agent target,” Rizzo and the Nats brain trust will now try and find another starting pitcher by trade or free agency.
“We’re good,” the general manager said. “We are going to move on to plan B and see if we can help ourselves. We feel good about the way the Buehrle thing went. It was a good presentation and it was a good negotiation but he went where he felt more comfortable and we wish him well.”
Buehrle was certainly more comfortable with the four-year deal as opposed to the three years the Nationals were offering at a reported price of around $40 million.
“I wasn’t comfortable going four years with him as a starting pitcher,” Rizzo said. “That was an issue from the start and we tried to work through that. Once he became comfortable with the fit in Miami, then the term was right for him.”
Buehrle will be reunited with his manager in Chicago, Ozzie Guillen, who was asked if he was one of the reasons Buehrle decided to sign with the Marlins.
“Me?” Guillen asked. “Money. Money talks. I have no money. You pay the players, they will come and play for you.”
A colleague who has covered the White Sox for years said Buehrle is a creature of habit and prefers to be around people he trusts.
The Nationals were hoping they could put Buehrle in a rotation that includes Stephen Strasburg, Jordan Zimmermann, Chein-Ming Wang, Ross Detwiler and John Lannan. In fact, if they had signed the 32-year old, that would have made it easier to use some of their pitching depth to make a trade. That is less likely now.
“Plan B” may include free-agent pitcher Roy Oswalt, but Oswalt is said to want a three year deal. He made just 23 starts last season after dealing with back problems. Oswalt went 9-10 with a 3.69 ERA while throwing 139 innings.
“We are not specifically targeting Oswalt as Plan B,” said Rizzo. “Plan B is to look at all of our options and he is one of those options.”
Another option might be Oakland Athletics left-hander Gio Gonzalez, but the price could also be high. As many as 12 teams have expressed interest in Gonzalez, and according to sources, the Athletics want a deal comparable to the one they got from Arizona for Dan Haren in December 2007.
Gonzalez has won 31 games in the past two seasons for the Athletics and went 16-12 last year with a 3.12 ERA while throwing 202 innings.
“We have spoken to Oakland,” Rizzo said. “Gio fits what we are looking for. He is a young, controllable, talented starting pitcher that has a proven track record. With that said, those guys come at a cost, so we have to balance what the cost is and what the gain is to the club in the long term.”
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