Buehrle to the Sox?

Apparently the Red Sox are now the strongest suitor for Mark Buehrle. This comes as a surprise to myself, as i see starting pitching as their biggest asset. For starting pitching options, not only do we have Schilling, Wakefield, Dice-K, Beckett, and Tavarez, but we also have Gabbard, Hansack, Lester, Pauley, and Buchholz that all could hold their own on the major league stage. But with Wakefield struggling, Schilling on the DL, and both those pitchers contracts up at the end of the year it shouldn't come as a huge surprise the Sox would look for a veteran pitcher.

Now, their are two questions that have to be asked. What are we getting? and What do we need to give up? The first one is the simple one. We are getting a 28 year old pitcher on the last year of his contract. It is believed that if the Sox did acquire him they would give him a 5 year contract extension. Personally, i wish is was in the 3-year range, but i don't believe Buehrle would go for that. Buehrle has seen his fair share of batters, pitching 200+ innings in 6 straight years. That scares me because he is bound to eventually get hurt. Only one time has he had an ERA+ below league average, but sadly that was last season. He has bounced back great this ear, posting a WHIP of 1.05 and a 60/17 K/BB rate.

What are we going to give up? Depends on what the White Sox are looking for. They have strong needs in the minors as well as the majors. They are a team is complete disarray. Very little talent at the AAA and AA level. If they plan on building at those level the likely names you'll hear are Buchholz, Bowden, Ellsbury, Lowrie, and Moss. They have a bad bullpen so you might hear names like Delcarmen, Hansen, Hansack, Gabbard or Pineiro. They could also use some major league ready talent like Murphy, Pena, Hinske, or Crisp.

That is a lot of possibilities to choose from. Since Jermaine Dye is on his way out and Pods has no right in the MLB i think they ask for an outfielder. My guess is they ask for Pena/Ellsbury. I really don't mind either being traded. I think Ellsbury has been overrated by Red Sox fans and Pena has no chance playing for the Sox anytime soon. They will probably want a starting pitcher to replace Buehrle. They will most likely ask for Buccholz, but he should be untouchable. So than they might ask for 2 out of Bowden, Gabbard, and Hansack. I am not opposed to that at all. If it does end up being Bowden, i don't think a second player will be needs.

Final trade, Red Sox get Buehrle and White Sox get Pena/Bowden. I like that trade. It looks fair and appears to be exactly what both teams need. I really don't like the idea of this trade, however. I think the Red Sox should be looking for relief help. Keeping a pitcher away from the Yankees is hardly a reason to trade for someone.