When the Pittsburgh Steelers opted to use the transition tag on offensive lineman Max Starks, which gave them only the right to match any offers but no compensation if he joined a new team, we wondered why they didn’t simply pony up the additional $500,000 or so for the ability to use the franchise tag on guard Alan Faneca.

And then when no one made an offer to Starks — in fact, we can’t recall a single visit that he took to another team — we wondered why they didn’t rescind the tag.

It’s now too late. As MDS pointed out over the weekend, Starks has signed his transition tender. Though the transition tender did not become fully guaranteed when accepted under the pre-2006 Collective Bargaining Agreement, the pay is now fully and completely guaranteed due to the latest version of the CBA.

Thus, the Steelers are on the hook for $6.9 million for only one year of service from Starks.

Starks lost his starting job to Willie Colon before the regular-season began, and Starks only started in four games last season. But Starks is now only second in pay behind quarterback Ben Roethlisberger on a roster that surely includes a few guys who’ll wonder why in the hell they’re getting so much less than a guy who might be spending much of his time in 2008 exactly where he spent it in 2007 — on the bench.

If the Steelers had removed the tag, Starks would have been an unrestricted free agent. And so they would have had to try to sign him to a new contract while bidding against other teams.

The reality, however, is that the Steelers could have gotten him for a lot less than $6.9 million this season.