So let me see if I have this straight. The White Sox will not offer starting pitchers more than 3 year deals, unless you are Mark Buehrle and get 4. They also thought Jon Garland was too expensive at $13 million this season, so they dealt him to the Angels.

So the next logical step, obviously, is to offer a middle reliever a four-year contract worth $19 million. Whuh?

Nothing against Linebrink here. At one time, for a brief period, he was one of the better set-up men in the league. The last 2 seasons? Not so much.

He gave up 12 homers in 70 innings last year, and converted only 1 of 8 save opportunities. His strikeouts have gone down for 3 consecutive seasons. He’s still a solid reliever. But I wouldn’t offer a solid reliever 4 years and $19 million.