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06/01/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The good news is the Seattle Mariners have been able to score some runs here and there.
The bad news is they enter play Tuesday cemented in last place in the American League West, eight games back of the first-place Oakland Athletics. Seattle is also 5 1/2 games behind the third-place Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
The Mariners are no doubt happy to turn the page on May, a month that began with a six-game losing streak and ended with three straight defeats. Those three straight losses have underscored the fact that Seattle has managed to score at least four runs in five of its last six games. Of course, with interleague play set to begin next weekend, the M's pitchers will now be taking their hacks as part of baseball's least intimidating lineup.
Manager Don Wakamatsu sent a message with a bullpen shakeup following Monday's 5-4 loss to the Minnesota Twins. Relievers Kanekoa Texeira (5.30 ERA) and Jesus Colome (5.29) were designated for assignment after both had some major control issues in Sunday's 9-7 loss to the Angels. In their place, the team recalled left-hander Garrett Olson and right-hander Sean White from Triple-A Tacoma.
The move gives Wakamatsu added flexibility with a bullpen that has been stretched thin. According to a report on the team's website, the M's bypassed Triple-A prospects Luke French (1.76 ERA) and Steven Shell (3.00) so they could continue their development as starters rather than be thrust into a big league bullpen role.
In terms of the lineup, Wakamatsu has stopped relying on Ken Griffey Jr. (.184) and Casey Kotchman (.192) in everyday roles, instead giving more opportunities to Mike Sweeney (6 HR) and Michael Saunders. After only two months of play, it seems the M's manager has tried just about everything to jumpstart his team. Still, he's not about to give up now.
"Sometimes guys get to a point where they're pressing so much that they just give up," Wakamatsu told the Seattle Times. "And all of a sudden, there's a freedom in that. Where you stop the pressing."
NO CAUSE FOR CELEBRATION IN ANAHEIM
The mob-scene celebrations at home plate following a walk-off home run have become commonplace these days in Major League Baseball. But that has begun to change after Angels' star first baseman Kendry Morales broke his ankle in one of those celebratory scrums following his walk-off grand slam against Seattle on Saturday.
Morales was leading the team in batting average (.290), home runs (11), total bases (94) and RBI (39). He was expected to undergo surgery on Sunday, but that procedure was pushed back a week because of a high level of swelling in his fractured left ankle. He will be out of the lineup indefinitely.
"When you lose a player of Kendry's status, much like when we lost Torii Hunter and Vlad Guerrero last year, the players around them have to play at a certain level to absorb and create the production," manager Mike Scioscia said.
On Sunday, less than 24 hours after Morales' freak injury, Howard Kendrick belted a walk-off home run in a 9-7 win against the Mariners. This time around, Scioscia had put in place some guidelines for post-game celebrations. There was still a celebration at the plate, but the players waited on the grass, and there was no wild pileup.
"We were just trying to be careful that time," Hunter said. "When I saw (Kendrick) hit the home run, I saw him running around the bases and I saw everybody running out. I'm like, 'Calm down! Calm down! Wait, let him touch the plate.' And I was screaming, 'Two-jump minimum!'"
RANGERS TRYING TO STOP THE BLEEDING
Thanks to a four-game skid, the Texas Rangers (26-24) have lost their grip on the AL West lead. But that's not all they've lost.
Adding to the team's frustration is the addition of starting pitcher Derek Holland to the disabled list with a mild case of left rotator cuff inflammation. Holland (2-1, 4.19), who exited Sunday's start after 43 pitches, is expected to be shut down for about a week before he begins throwing again.
According to assistant general manager Thad Levine, the team will likely bring up Triple-A reliever Pedro Strop until Saturday, when a starter will be called up to fill Holland's spot in the rotation. That call is expected to go to right-hander Tommy Hunter, although he struggled in Monday's start for Oklahoma City, allowing five runs on 10 hits in five innings of work. Hunter is 1-2 with a 4.05 ERA in six starts with Oklahoma City this season.
In other injury news, right fielder Nelson Cruz was sent to the DL on Saturday with a torn left hamstring. He is eligible to return June 13, at which time the team hopes he can rejoin the lineup. The Rangers can ill-afford an extended period without Cruz, who was hitting .327 with 10 homers and 34 RBI in 32 games. The injury occurred while he was legging out a ground ball against the Royals on Wednesday. He was already on the DL this season from April 27-May 14 with a strained right hamstring.
A'S MISSING PRODUCTION FROM LEFT SIDE OF INFIELD
The Oakland Athletics (28-24) hold a slim one-game lead atop the AL West, despite very little production lately from third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff or shortstop Cliff Pennington.
Pennington was given the day off this past Thursday, breaking up a string of 92 consecutive starts dating back to last season. He entered Thursday in an 0- for-15 skid, having seen his batting average drop from .272 to .156 over a 20- game span.
His counterpart on the left side of the infield, Kouzmanoff, has endured similar struggles. Through the first seven games of the team's 10-game road trip, Kouzmanoff is hitting just .111 (3-for-27).
Manager Bob Geren downplayed Kouzmanoff's hitting, though he did drop him from fourth to sixth in the lineup for Monday's game.
"He's hit balls pretty good," Geren said. "Just no luck. Sometimes when you look at one week or a span of 10 days, the numbers don't exactly indicate how well they're swinging the bat."
<< Greece includes injured duo on Cup team
Athens, Greece (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Greece coach Otto Rehhagel included injured
duo Christos Patsatzoglou and Giourkas Seitaridis on his final 23-man team for
the World Cup on Tuesday.
Patsatzoglou missed most of World Cup qualifying and Seit
<< Japan includes Nakamura on final roster
Tokyo, Japan (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Japan coach Takeshi Okada trimmed his World
Cup squad to 23 players Tuesday and injured veteran Shunsuke Nakamura survived
the cut as expected.
Nakamura missed Sunday's friendly against fellow World Cup qu
<< Bryant has a chance to stamp his legacy
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It took longer than he had hoped but by
finally stepping out of Shaquille O'Neal's enormous shadow last season, many
felt Los Angeles Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant put the final stamp on a
brilliant basketball
<< Slovakia includes injured trio in final roster
Bratislava, Slovakia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Slovakia coach Vladimir Weiss included
injured trio Filip Holosko, Martin Skrtel and Robert Vittek on his 23-man team
for the World Cup on Tuesday.
Skrtel, who plays for Liverpool, is recovering from
Lidstrom coming back for another season >>
Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Detroit Red Wings defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom
is set to return for the 2010-11 season.
Lidstrom's contract expired at the conclusion of this past season and the Red
Wings' website said the 40-year-old vetera
Mauer continues to lead AL All-Star balloting >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Minnesota Twins catcher Joe Mauer is the
top vote-getter after the second set of American League All-Star
balloting results.
The reigning American League Most Valuable Player has drawn 1
Nigeria's Anichebe cut due to injury >>
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Nigeria striker Victor Anichebe was left
off the team's World Cup roster due to an injury, it was announced Tuesday.
Anichebe, who plays for Everton in the English Premier League, was a notable
omissio
Slovenia makes final roster cuts >>
Ljubljana, Slovenia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Slovenia coach Matjaz Kek trimmed his
World Cup roster to 23 players Tuesday, making Dejan Kelhar, Darjan Matic and
Mirnes Sisic the final three cuts.
Matjaz previously trimmed his 30-man preliminary
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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MySportsbook.com Week 1 odds:
Saints +6 @ Colts -6
Falcons @ Vikings (pick ‘em)
Panthers @ Rams (pick ‘em)
Broncos -3.5 @ Bills +3.5
Chiefs -1 @ Texans +1
Dolphins +3 @ Redskins -3
Patriots -5 @ Jets +5
Eagles -3.5 @ Packers +3.5
Steelers -4 @ Browns +4
Titans +6 @ Jaguars -6
Bears +6 @ Chargers -6
Lions +3 @ Raiders -3
Bucs +6.5 @ Seahawks -6.5
Giants +4 @ Cowboys -4
Ravens +3 @ Bengals -3
Cardinals +3 @ 49ers -3
Super Bowl line (2008)
NFC +6.5 vs. AFC -6.5
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