Few pitchers change speeds as well as Zito, but he gives up too many walks and often goes deep in the count. I'll take Buehrle over Zito.

I think the Buehrle trade talk frenzy got so hot because of how BAD the Sox played for a stretch. Granted, they aren't playing well by any means now, but they were so bad there for a while that no one could see any trade value in anyone whatsoever - despite still holding onto very valuable players to other organizations.

Guys like Jim Thome and (Gasp) Bobby Jenks are probably much better guys for the Sox to shop, in my opinion. At first, it seems silly because of the money involved with Thome and the fact that Jenks is the only bright spot in an otherwise horrific bullpen. Looking closer, however, you would find that Thome's contract isn't going to be that big of an add-on to the already HUGE spending contenders like the Mets/Yanks/Bo-Sox, and big spenders like the Angels. Clearly, no National league contender has a home for Thome right now, however, so his best bet would be to make an already good AL Lineup completely ridiculous.

Jenks, on the other hand, could give a contender a much needed premier closer for THIS YEAR during a World Series push. His effectiveness should be short lived,however and the Sox should be aware of his a) already declining velocity and K/BB numbers, and b) the usually large and swift decline of closers who get/got by with 100 MPH stuff. In short, Jenks threw too hard to be worthwhile over the long haul, but for this season, he could mean a lot to someone else.

" some Oakland Athletics Moneyball cache."


Unless Zito has a closet full of books helping his value, you meant cachet.

Awesome - thanks Noah.

Won't be the last time I look like a dumbass on here.

You obviously haven't paid attention to Jenks. He is definitely evolving into a "pitcher". The White Sox would be mad to trade him with his cheap status.

I will bet you he is injured or significantly worse by middle of next season.

You may be getting a little over-zealous on Buehrle. He has been a good pitcher over the last few years, but players of his type do not age well. Just look at his comparables found in this BP article: http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=6388
Pitchers who do not strike anyone out do not tend to age well at all. His numbers projected by Pecota are supposed to get increasingly worse over the next few years. Add that to the fact, that any team trying to trade for him would probably have to give him a hefty new contract and presumably would want to if they were giving up the prospects that K.Williams is demanding and Buehrle does not seem worth it. Is he really worth Bucholz and Ellsbury? No, no way. He might be worth Hansen and Moss is the White Sox were willing to accept that, but given the financial strain and the fact that the Red Sox rotation is set for years to come with Dice-K, Beckett, Lester, Bucholz and it seems even less logical to give up those players and money for a team that will only need a fifth starter type in the near future. This especially doesn't make sense if they plan on resigning Schilling. Also they have David Pauley, Kason Gabbard and Devern Hansack and Bowden as internal cheap options to fill this last spot in the rotation, and it makes even less sense to go after Buehrle. That money would be better spent on replacing the bats of Manny and Ortiz as they age. The team would be suited to go after another bat for the future at the trading deadline like Texeira. This would setup the team for quite some time with Youkilis at 3b, Texeira at 1b, Perdoia at 2b, Ellsbury at CF, JD Drew in RF, Manny in LF (to be replaced by Willy Mo eventually), Ortiz at DH, and maybe Jed Lowrie at SS. This along with the bullpen they have would form a great team for years to come. Buehrle would just screw this up. They might have to give up some of these assets to get Texeira, but maybe not. They have plenty of young pitchers to trade and OF prospects, who I didn't include in this plan.