It would seem that Ken Williams is done joking around with Mark Buehrle.
The White Sox' general manager didn't find Buehrle's latest tarp-sliding incident very funny, and Williams is showing even less humor concerning all the St. Louis Cardinals talk that has come out of Buehrle's mouth the last four years.
While Williams considers Buehrle a "core player,'' talks about a long-term contract have yet to begin. Whether it's because Williams doesn't feel the time is right or doesn't feel Buehrle is a realistic investment possibility because of the pitcher's St. Louis ties, he isn't saying.
Williams mentioned the Cardinals talk late in spring training after the club announced Jose Contreras' contract extension, but it was passed off as kidding. He made it clear Tuesday, however, that he wasn't.
"[Buehrle] mentioned it once at that annual [St. Louis] dinner -- OK, that's funny,'' Williams said of the left-hander expressing a desire to pitch for his hometown Cardinals in the future. "He mentioned it twice the next year. ... You mention it three times like he did, and you have to start thinking he's serious.
"I wasn't completely joking with what I said [in spring training]. With that said, the one thing ... we've tried to do for a number of years now is lock up the core players. He certainly embodies everything of what we are trying to be about. If I further try to speak on the subject when it's not appropriate, it's not consistent with us trying to get things done under a confidential basis.''
But Buehrle confirmed there have been no talks concerning his future past 2006. The Sox have a $9.5 million option for next season that they almost certainly will pick up, but Buehrle is all for getting something longer done.
In fact, for the first time since the Cardinals talk began, Buehrle went out of his way before the game Tuesday to let the organization know how he feels.
"The whole Cardinals thing, I don't really know if I could sign with them, to be honest with you,'' Buehrle said. "If the Cardinals and White Sox came in and said, 'Here, five years for the same amount of money' or slightly apart, I don't know if I could sign with the Cardinals. There's a lot of stuff that comes with that, a lot of distractions. I've talked to people that play in their hometown, and they say it's almost too big of a distraction.
"Not to say that it won't happen or I won't go somewhere else, but the St. Louis stuff was all a joke. I did it the one time joking around, it got back here and was made into such a big deal, so I did it again just because everyone made such a big deal about it. That's the kind of guy I am. I like to screw around and have fun.''
And if the Sox decide to wait, at least this year, to begin talks?
"That's up to them,'' Buehrle said. "If they want to wait until the end of the year, wait until the end of next year or start doing it right now, I don't think it will bother me one way or the other, or affect the way I pitch.
"I'm going to go out there and give it 100 percent whether I'm under contract for a year or for five years.''