White Sox Sign Linebrink

I’ll have more to say on the trend of overpaying relievers in another venue, but for now it’s enough to know that 4 years for $19 million is an insane amount to give a guy like Scott Linebrink, which is what the Chicago White Sox will be paying for the right-hander’s services.

I happen to be a big fan of Linebrink. I saw his California League debut with San Jose back in ‘97, when he fanned 10 Stockton batters over 6 innings. I’ve followed him closely since then and was ecstatic when the Padres picked him up off waivers from Houston in 2003. He had some good years in San Diego, and for a time, it looked like he might one day replace Trevor Hoffman as the team’s closer.

The main problem with Linebrink now is that most of his numbers are trending in the wrong direction. He’s still a valuable reliever because he’s durable and probably will give a team 70 innings or so of above-average work, but this is not the lights-out setup man we saw in ‘04 and ‘05. I guess nobody told the White Sox.