Well, it's official (via MLB.com's Evan Drellich):

The Cardinals and left-hander Jaime Garcia agreed Wednesday on a four-year contract extension with club options that could keep him with St. Louis through 2017.

The deal is for a reported $27.5 million over the four guaranteed seasons.

--snip--

The extension covers Garcia's three years of arbitration eligibility as well as his first potential year of free agency. The option years would cover his second and third years of potential free-agent eligibility.

How good has Garcia been, since joining the Cardinals' rotation last April? Among National League starters with at least 250 innings over the last season-and-a-half, Garcia's 2.92 ERA ranks third, behind only Roy Halladay (2.44) and Cole Hamels (2.77).

The Cardinals have been careful with Garcia, limiting him to 163 innings last season and 117 (so far) this season. He's already gone through Tommy John surgery, and obviously the recovery went exceptionally well. There are no guarantees with pitchers, young or old. But Garcia seems like a pretty good bet to pitch effectively through the next four to six seasons.

Which means $27.5 million over the four guaranteed seasons looks like a bargain for the Cardinals. We can't fully evaluate this deal without knowing the dollars for those two option years, but we can guess they're club-friendly, too.

This is the way it's supposed to work. If I'm a Cardinals fan, I'm absolutely thrilled. As a baseball fan, I'm happy for everyone.

For more about Garcia and the Cardinals, please visit Viva El Birdos.