Fantasy Baseball: Time to sell high on Mark Buehrle

It goes without saying that one of the biggest fantasy baseball surprises this season has been Toronto Blue Jays starter Mark Buehrle.

May 17, 2014; Arlington, TX, USA; Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Mark Buehrle (56) pitches against the Texas Rangers during the first inning at Globe Life Park in Arlington. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

If you own him, you are reaping the benefits as on Tuesday Buehrle became the first major league pitcher to reach nine wins on the season.

With that being said it is time to sell high on the Toronto left hander.

Again on Tuesday, Buehrle wasn’t very dominant allowing nine base runners and three earned runs in 6.2 innings while striking out only three. But things worked out his way again. That’s not likely to continue the rest of the season.

While the nine wins are nice, there is nothing about his performances that would suggest he is a guy to hold onto the rest of the season.

Buehrle’s strikeout rate has dipped to 14.7 percent while his walk rate has increased to 6.6 percent.

Even more alarming is that his ERA seems like it could start ballooning at any moment.

Buehrle’s strand rate is still at 80.3 percent, which is simply outstanding but it is also something that just isn’t sustainable.

He doesn’t strike out anyone and is pitching to a 44 percent ground ball rate. Those aren’t positive signs.

Buehrle’s HR/FB rate is still far too low and is bound to work its way up to his career norm. At 3 percent, he is close to 7 percent off his career average.

Eventually the guys that get on base are going to start scoring at a higher rate and eventually the ball is going to start flying out of the ballpark at a much higher rate.

You don’t want to be holding onto him when it does.

Do yourself a favor and move him now while his value is high.

You have already got way more than you likely should have from a cheap investment on Buehrle.