As expected, this afternoon the White Sox exercised their 2010 options on Freddy Garcia and Matt Thornton.

Thornton is a no-brainer at $2.25 million, because he's been one of the premier setup men in the league since arriving via trade with the Mariners in the spring of 2006. Thornton was a huge disappointment in Seattle and the Mariners basically gave him away for fellow bust Joe Borchard, but he's gone 20-13 with a 3.31 ERA and 268 strikeouts in 250 innings during four years in Chicago's bullpen.

Injuries have limited Garcia to just 129 innings over the past three seasons, but he showed enough by going 3-4 with a 4.34 ERA down the stretch that the White Sox like him as a $1 million fifth starter. Garcia is 34 years old and rarely cracks 90 miles per hour at this point, so his days of being an impact pitcher are over, but if healthy he should be a solid No. 5 guy behind what could be the league's strongest front four in Jake Peavy, Mark Buehrle, John Danks, and Gavin Floyd.