Sandy says he has not discussed Buehrle or CJ Wilson

Sandy Alderson told reporters today that free-agent starting pitchers Mark Buehrle and C.J. Wilson have not been in his conversations this week. “No, that’s not happening,” he said, in response to whether the team could sign either pitcher.

“Starting pitching hasn’t been a focus for us yet,” he explained. “It’s not to say it’s not important. We’ve just been looking at other things.”

Nevertheless, Jon Heyman said on Twitter that Buehrle has trimmed his list of teams to five and the Mets are ‘in on him,’ much like Anthony DiComo of MLB.com first reported earlier today.

DiComo also says the Rangers and Marlins are on Buehrle’s final list of teams as well.

Yesterday, Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com said teams were mostly offering Buehrle three-year deals worth just under $40 million. However, Jon Heyman later added that the first team to give him four years will likely end up signing him.

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Matthew Cerrone (Posted on Dec. 6, 2011, at 3:43 pm): Well, this is surprising. I had not heard of any interest between the two sides, though people familiar with his market have told me he is very interested in pitching in a larger park in the National League. They say the market for Buehrle has been scorching hot, but he recently cut down his list from 14 teams to five. I’d be shocked if the Mets are one of them. But, I think he sees himself as the next generation Jamie Moyer, so to speak. Citi Field would be a nice place for him.

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Michael Baron: (From Nov. 2, 2011) I’ve always liked Buehrle. He’s a gamer, he’s durable, and he seems to be consistent year after year. He pitches to a lot of contact, which would benefit him at Citi Field (even if the dimensions are changed); and he’s a strike thrower, which is something the Mets need more of from their starters going forward. If he would and he’d consider a shorter term deal (and a move from the midwest), Buerhle would go a long way towards filling the gap between 2012 and the time when guys like Matt Harvey and Zack Wheeler are ready to contribute in the big leagues.

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Buehrle, who will be 33 on Opening Day, just finished a four year, $56 million deal he signed in July, 2007. He went 13-9 with a 3.59 ERA in 2011, marking the 11th consecutive season he has won at least ten games, thrown at least 200 innings, and made 30 or more starts.

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