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07/22/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Losers of two of their last three, the Baltimore Orioles conclude their West Coast swing this afternoon at McAfee Coliseum as they face off against the Oakland Athletics in the finale of a three-game set.
On Saturday night Oakland was paced by pitching ace Dan Haren who won for the 11th times in as many chances when his team gives him at least two runs of support, claiming a 4-3 triumph at home.
Haren allowed three runs on seven hits and struck out seven over 6 2/3 innings, while Alan Embree posted his 10th save of the season out of the bullpen.
Jack Cust had a pair of hits, one of them a home run for the A's, while Travis Buck, Mark Ellis and Mark Kotsay each scored in the victory as well.
The O's were paced by Kevin Millar, who plated two, while Corey Patterson knocked in a run and also scored in the setback. Steve Trachsel suffered the loss, permitting four runs on nine hits over 5 1/3 innings.
A couple of youngsters battle it out on the hill in this afternoon's meeting between the clubs as Jeremy Guthrie throws for the Orioles and Dallas Braden takes the ball for the home team.
Guthrie, who played three seasons with the Cleveland Indians but only pitched a total of 37 innings during that stretch, has spent some time coming out of the bullpen this season for Baltimore, but is now in the starting rotation.
On Tuesday the Oregon native snapped a two-game slide as he allowed two runs on six hits over six innings against the Seattle Mariners on the road. With his three strikeouts the right-hander, who is 0-1 in his career versus the A's, surpassed the 100 strikeout plateau for his career.
On the other side Braden, who spent time at Triple-A Sacramento recently, has dropped four straight decisions since earning his first and only win of the campaign against these same Orioles back on April 24. More recently the lefty gave up four runs on eight hits, while striking out a career-high seven, over six innings of action in a 4-1 setback to Texas on Monday.
Baltimore, which is 14 1/2 games out of contention in the American League East and now 10 games under .500 on the road, is hitting a strong .290 over the last six games, with Patterson and Nick Markakis tied for the team lead during that span with 11 hits and five runs scored.
As for the A's, 10 1/2 games out in the AL West and still a game under .500 (25-26) in their own stadium, they are hitting a mere .216 in the last week and while Ellis paces the group with seven hits, he has just a single RBI to show for his efforts.
Since going 0-7 overall against Oakland back in 2004, the O's have won five of eight games played in the bay area in spite of last night's loss.
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(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Shooting for their third straight victory, the New York
Yankees close out a four-game set against division rival Tampa Bay this
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(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Shut out for the fourth time this season, the Seattle
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On Saturday the Seattle offen
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Park this afterno
<< Red Sox try to stay offensive against White Sox
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Red Sox gun for their third straight win this afternoon
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in Boston.
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Cubs, Diamondbacks play rubber match at Wrigley >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sean Marshall will square off against the Arizona
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Cubs wrap a three-game set with Arizona at Wrigley Field.
Marshall is also winless in his las
Byrd, Rangers best Indians >>
Arlington, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Marlon Byrd matched his career high with
five RBI as the Texas Rangers beat the Cleveland Indians, 8-5, in the third of
a four-game set at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.
Byrd had a two-run double in th
Pirates wrap set with Astros at PNC Park >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Astros conclude a nine-game road trip this
afternoon when they play the rubber match of a three-game series with the
Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park.
On Saturday, Jason Bay and Adam LaRoche both drove in two run
Byrd is the word: Rangers try for split with Indians >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Having snapped a three-game slide on Saturday, the Texas
Rangers close out a four-game set against the Cleveland Indians tonight at
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Marlon Byrd erupted for five RBI, matching a career-high, a
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.
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