Division rivals collide as Mariners visit A's
Baseball Betting Lines
09/06/2010 -
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Second-year lefty Brett Anderson can pitch the Oakland Athletics a game closer to .500 and keep them an outside contender in the
American League playoff race today, when the team hosts the Seattle Mariners
for the first of three games at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.
The Athletics come in after taking two of three from the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim over the weekend, though they lost by a 7-4 score on Sunday. Bobby
Abreu drove in three runs and scored three times to lead the Angels.
Jeff Larish hit a two-run double for Oakland, which has dropped five of seven.
A's starter Vin Mazzaro (6-8) was rocked in 4 1/3 innings, giving up five runs
on six hits as the right-hander lost his sixth straight decision.
The Athletics are now two games below .500 at 67-69 and sit eight games behind
the Texas Rangers in the chase for AL's West Division title. The Rangers, who
lost slugging outfielder Josh Hamilton to injury over the weekend, begin a
four-game series today in Toronto.
Anderson, a 22-year-old from Midland, Texas, was 3-2 on the season after a 4-3
defeat of the Kansas City Royals on Aug. 4 in Oakland. He's 0-4 in five starts
since, however, including a six-inning stint en route to a 4-3 loss to the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday.
He's pitched at least six innings in four of those five starts, allowing 34
hits and 14 runs in 28 innings.
The slump began against the Mariners on Aug. 10 in Seattle, when Anderson
allowed five hits and a run in seven innings of a 2-1 loss.
He is 2-2 in six home starts in 2010.
Seattle counters with 27-year-old southpaw Jason Vargas, who'll seek his first
win since Aug. 14.
The former second-round pick of the Florida Marlins defeated the Cleveland Indians to improve to a career-best 9-5 that day, but has lost three
subsequent starts against the Yankees, Minnesota and the Angels.
Vargas picked up his initial win of 2010 against the Athletics after tossing
six innings and allowing five hits and two runs while walking none and
striking out six in Seattle on April 14.
He's 2-0 in three career games against Oakland with a 1.69 earned run average
in 10 2/3 innings.
Seattle comes in off a winning effort on Sunday, when Russell Branyan homered
and drove in two runs to back eight scoreless innings by Felix Hernandez as
the Mariners topped Cleveland, 3-0, at Safeco Field.
Oakland has won five of six meetings with the Mariners held at the Coliseum
this year, as well as seven of 12 overall matchups between the teams in 2010.
<< Astros try to remain hot in Chicago
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Recently red-hot lefty Wandy Rodriguez and his similarly
streaking Houston teammates try to make it three straight wins when the Astros
head to Wrigley Field today for the first of three consecutive games with the
host Chicag
<< Latos tries to end Padres 10-game slide in meeting with Dodgers
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) -- Mat Latos' quick emergence into a frontline pitcher is a
big reason why the San Diego Padres have stood atop the National League West
for the majority of the 2010 campaign. With his team mired in by far their
worst stretch o
<< Giants target first place as they continue road trip in Arizona
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - With first place in the National League's West Division now
within their grasp, the San Francisco Giants continue a critical road trip
today with the first of three straight meetings with the Arizona Diamondbacks
from Chase F
<< Rockies hope to extend charge as they battle Reds
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) -- Don't look now, but the Colorado Rockies may about to be
putting together one of those strong September runs that has propelled them
into the postseason in years past.
After climbing back into the National League West rac
<< Villanova loses starting defensive end
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Defending FCS national champion Villanova
has lost sophomore Marlon Johnson, its only returning starter on the defensive
line, to a season-ending ACL injury.
Johnson, a defensive end, suffered the injury d
Cardinals to begin critical road trip with clash vs. Brewers >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Coming off a much-needed series win, the playoff-hopeful
St. Louis Cardinals know they still have a lot of work to do.
St. Louis continues that uphill battle this afternoon with the opener of a
three-game series at Miller
Santana scratched from Tuesday start >>
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New York Mets ace Johan Santana will miss
his next scheduled start Tuesday versus Washington with a strained pectoral
muscle.
Santana was forced to leave his last assignment against the Braves Thurs
Underwhelming Madrid need special touch >>
Toronto, Canada (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - When Jose Mourinho left Inter Milan this
summer for the bright lights of the Bernabeu, he took a calculated risk. After
all, Inter had just come off a season where they won both the domestic league
and cu
Rangers scratch Lee from Tuesday start >>
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Texas Rangers have scratched lefty Cliff
Lee from his scheduled start Tuesday against the Blue Jays because of a
strained muscle in his lower back.
Lee was given an injection to deal with disc
Burke helping turn over new Leaf >>
Toronto, Canada (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In the past 12 months, the Toronto Maple
Leafs have advocated change more than a campaigning politician.
Like a political party during election season, the Leafs are under constant
scrutiny. And whe
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FOOTBALL BETTING : Crabtree's base deal: six years, $32 million
Football Betting
In the wake of the news that the 49ers have signed receiver Michael Crabtree after an extended holdout, there has been not a hint of the dollars to be paid to Crabtree.
And since this means that his agent hasn't leaked the numbers, it means that his agent feels no specific motivation to do so.
Possibly because his agent isn't all that thrilled to have his name on the deal.
So the numbers will come from sources other than Crabtree's agent. And we've gotten our mitts into them.
Per a league source, Crabtree has signed a six-year, $32 million contract. (The total includes guaranteed money, base salaries, and the one-time incentive based on achieving minimum playing time.)
The deal also includes $17 million in guaranteed money.
As reported elsewhere, the deal can void to five years based on performance triggers, wiping out a final year base salary of $4 million. But they won't be easily reached.
The source tells us that, in his first four seasons (including 2009), Crabtree must either qualify for two Pro Bowls, or he must qualify for one Pro Bowl in one year and he must participate in 80 percent of the offensive snaps in a separate year in which the team makes the playoffs.
In other words, if in 2010 he qualifies for the Pro Bowl and the team makes the playoffs and he participates in 80 percent of the snaps, he'll still need to make it to the Pro Bowl or achieve the 80-percent/playoffs in another season.
Since the chances of Crabtree making the Pro Bowl or participating in 80 percent of the offensive snaps this year is roughly zero percent, he'll have three years to get it done.
And it won't be easy. Frankly, he'll be hard pressed to make it to one Pro Bowl in three years with the likes of Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson, Anquan Boldin, Steve Smith, the other Steve Smith, Hakeem Nicks, DeSean Jackson, Johnny Knox, Percy Harvin, Greg Jennings, Roddy White, T.J. Houshmandzadeh in the same conference for sportsbook betting.
So, by all appearances, it's a six-year deal. And at $17 million in guaranteed money, the per-year guarantee is a tepid $2.83 million per year.
There's another problem with the deal -- it has no mid-tier incentive package. Instead, the additional $8 million that Crabtree can earn (pushing the max value to six years, $40 million) requires the kind of unrealistic, mega-star performances that no rookie is likely to ever achieve.
So while the contract paid to Packers defensive tackle B.J. Raji covers five years and pays $22.5 million, he has the ability (if he's a solid player) to make up the difference between his base deal and Crabtree's five-year, $28 million haul via the mid-tier incentive package in Raji's deal.
And unless Crabtree meets the performance thresholds necessary to void the sixth year, he'll be stuck under contract for another year at a base salary of only $4 million.
There's one other area of concern with the deal. Crabtree, per the source, received no option bonus. Instead, he has significant money tied to a fairly new device known as a "discretionary salary advance," which unlike an opition bonus is subject to forfeiture if Crabtree decides in a year or two that he wants to hold out for a better deal. (We're also told that the 49ers have included language that would make certain escalators subject to forfeiture, too.)
Meanwhile, the deal falls well short of the mark for which Crabtree and agent Eugene Parker were aiming -- the five-year, $38.25 million contract paid by the Raiders to receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey, the seventh overall pick in the draft.
Even if Crabtree successfully voids the final year, he'll make more than $2 million per year less on average than Heyward-Bey.
Thus, as we explained earlier in the day, this is a deal that Crabtree could have done in July, which would have given him a much better chance of making a contribution to the 49ers during his rookie year.
So while the final outcome can be described as win-win, the broader view suggests that it's really a lose-lose situation.
NFL Betting Lines
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