Deal Will Keep Garland With White Sox

Jon Garland might have signed a longer contract for more money next year. But that didn’t matter to him.

The Chicago White Sox pitcher agreed to a three-year, $29-million contract Wednesday with the 2005 World Series champions and avoided salary arbitration.

“I love the city,” Garland said during a conference call with reporters. “It’s where I wanted to play, where I wanted to be. And I’m happy to be there.”

The 26-year-old right-hander, who would have been eligible to become a free agent after the 2006 season, will receive $7 million next year, $10 million in 2007 and $12 million in 2008, according to the White Sox.

He went 18-10 with a 3.50 earned-run average and led the American League with three shutouts last season with the White Sox. He threw three complete games and struck out 115 in 32 starts.

Garland, who made the American League All-Star team last season, went 1-0 with a 2.25 ERA in two postseason starts, including a complete-game victory against the Angels in Game 3 of the American League championship series.

Garland is 64-61 with a 4.42 ERA in 181 games over six seasons, all with the White Sox.

Free-agent outfielder Jeromy Burnitz and the Baltimore Orioles have agreed on a two-year contract, pending the results of a physical.

A team source, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the deal has not been finalized, said that the deal will pay the former Chicago Cub right fielder from $10 million to $12 million.

Burnitz, 36, batted .258 with 24 homers and 87 runs batted in with the Cubs last season. The 13-year veteran would fill the hole in left field left by the departure of Eric Byrnes, who was not offered a contract for 2006.

The Orioles are on the brink of abandoning their effort to trade disgruntled shortstop Miguel Tejada, who has expressed a desire to leave Baltimore because the team has not done enough to improve itself during the off-season.

Tejada is entering the third year of a $72-million, six-year contract. He batted .304 with 26 homers and 98 RBIs in 2004.

Reliever Chad Bradford agreed to a one-year, $1.4-million contract with the New York Mets after a season marked by back surgery and his trade from Oakland to Boston.

The 31-year-old right-hander did not give up a run in 23 of his 31 appearances. He appeared in 21 games for Boston after his midseason trade.

Bradford became a free agent when Boston failed to offer a contract by the Dec. 20 deadline.

Infielder Miguel Cairo and the New York Yankees neared agreement on a one-year contract worth from $900,000 to $1 million.

Cairo was with the Yankees in 2004, winning the starting job at second base during the second half of the season and finishing with a .292 batting average and 42 RBIs. He wanted to re-sign, but the Yankees balked at his contract request last December and instead signed Tony Womack, who was dealt to Cincinnati this month.

SOCCER

Chelsea Extends Lead in Premier League

Joe Cole scored in the second half, and Chelsea beat Manchester City, 1-0, to move 11 points clear atop the English Premier League, padding its lead as second-place Manchester United was held to a 2-2 tie by Birmingham City. Cole scored the game winner in the 60th minute to avenge the Blues’ lone league loss last season.

Frank Lampard’s record run of 164 consecutive Premier League appearances ended when he was ruled out of Chelsea’s game at Manchester City because of flu.

Wednesday’s results marked the halfway point in the season, leaving Chelsea with 52 points from 19 games, Manchester United with 41 and Liverpool with 37 from 17.

Games between Bolton-Middlesbrough, Blackburn-Sunderland and Newcastle-Charlton were among 17 called off because of freezing weather throughout England.

Real Madrid’s honorary president and former star Alfredo Di Stefano underwent quadruple bypass surgery, four days after having a severe heart attack.

Di Stefano, 79, was out of the operating room and in a “postoperative stage of observation” including “assisted breathing and light circulatory support,” the press office at La Fe Hospital in Valencia, Spain, said.

OLYMPICS

IOC Vice President Denies Vote Allegation

An International Olympic Committee vice president denied casting a ballot that might have helped London win the 2012 Olympics.

“All this speculation surrounding my role in the third round ... is totally unfounded,” Lambis Nikolaou of Greece said in a statement. “I state that I did not vote in the third round, as I had announced at the time of the vote.”

Senior Olympic official Alex Gilady said last week that Nikolaou mistakenly voted for Paris rather than Madrid during balloting July 6 in Singapore -- tipping the balance toward London.

Gilady, an Israeli and member of the London 2012 Coordination Commission, said his claim was a “very serious assumption.”

Paris received 33 votes to Madrid’s 31 in the third round, eliminating the Spanish capital. Had Madrid received the vote, Gilady said, the cities would have tied with 32 each and entered a tiebreaker.

London beat Paris, 54-50, in the final round.

MISCELLANY

Armstrong, Sorenstam Are Athletes of the Year

Bicyclist Lance Armstrong was honored as the Associated Press male athlete of the year for the fourth year in a row. He is the only athlete to be selected by sportswriters four times since the honor first was awarded in 1931.

Golfer Annika Sorenstam was selected as the female athlete of the year, the third year in a row she has won the honor.

Venezuela offered to host part of next year’s World Baseball Classic in place of Puerto Rico and suggested moving the final to Canada, proposals aimed at keeping Cuba in the 16-team tournament.

Such an arrangement would open the way for communist-led Cuba to participate in the first World Cup-style baseball tournament. Cuba is banned from playing on U.S. soil, and Puerto Rico is a U.S. commonwealth.

Defending Australian Open champion Marat Safin withdrew from this week’s Hopman Cup tournament as he tries to recover from a knee injury that has sidelined him since August.

Safin, the 12th-ranked player in the world, has tendinitis in his right knee. The injury forced him to withdraw from the U.S. Open and might affect his chances of defending the title at the Australian Open, which begins Jan. 16 in Melbourne.

Ellis Park’s 2006 meet will go on as scheduled as the Henderson, Ky., racetrack makes repairs after a tornado last month that killed three horses and destroyed barns and spectator areas. Churchill Downs Inc., which owns Ellis Park, confirmed the track will conduct its meet from July 19 to Sept. 4. Some portions of the track might not be fixed by the time the meet begins.