Several sources are reporting that Mark Buehrle is down to five finalists, and while it’s not yet certain what five teams those are, CBS Sports’ Danny Knobler is guessing that it’s the Angels, Cardinals, Marlins, Nationals and Rangers.
Andrea Comak of The Washington Times has a source confirming that the Nationals are one of the five.
Buehrle is holding out for a four-year deal and is expected to command about $14 million per season. It’d be a heavy commitment to a guy who barely manages one strikeout every two innings, but the 32-year-old Buerhle is remarkably durable and consistent. He’s thrown 200 innings in each of his 11 full seasons and finished with a sub-4.00 ERA eight times.
If the Nationals can get Buehrle, he’d lead a rotation also set to include Stephen Strasburg, Jordan Zimmermann, Chien-Ming Wang and John Lannan. That could make Lannan expendable in the team’s hunt for a center fielder, with Ross Detwiler potentially taking his spot.
The Cardinals, Buehrle’s hometown team, are trying to trade Kyle Lohse to open up a rotation spot for the left-hander, an assignment that has gotten tougher with Lohse likely to wield his no-trade clause.
