Posted March 10, 200322 yr Credit: ESPN.com/Associated Press Sunday, March 9 Buehrle gets one-year deal from White Sox Associated Press TUCSON, Ariz. -- The Chicago White Sox renewed left-hander Mark Buehrle's contract for this season for $445,000 after being unable to reach a long-term contract. Buehrle will be eligible for salary arbitration after this season and free agency after the 2006 season. "That's part of the business,'' Buehrle said. "We both tried, but didn't get it done. They did come up a lot and for a minute I thought we were close. We went back at them and thought we had a reasonable comeback at the market value.'' The White Sox have an established salary structure for all of their pre-arbitration players and had the right to renew Buehrle's deal at an amount of their choosing. In the past five years, Buehrle is the only player to have his contract renewed. He was renewed at $310,000 last year. According to the White Sox, the final sticking point this year was the option on his free agent year in 2007, as well as several incentive differences. "This represents the highest amount we've ever paid a player in this service class as a member of the Chicago White Sox,'' assistant general manager Rick Hahn said. "While we are disappointed that we weren't able to work something out on a longer basis. ... "This will not influence his performance on the field or affect him in any way.'' One of the AL's best young pitchers, Buehrle is 35-20 with a 3.44 ERA over the last two years and made the All-Star squad last season when he went 19-12 with a 3.58 ERA.
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