First-place Tigers set sights on sweep of Twins

Baseball Betting Lines

07/11/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Detroit Tigers have taken over first place in the ultra-competitive AL Central and will close out a three-game set with the Minnesota Twins at Comerica Park this afternoon.

Detroit maintained its half-game edge on second-place Chicago in the division standings with Saturday's verdict against the struggling Twins. Miguel Cabrera, Magglio Ordonez and Johnny Damon each hit home runs to support six solid innings from Jeremy Bonderman in the Tigers' 7-4 win in the middle meeting of this three-game set.

Cabrera extended his hitting streak to a career-high 18 games and Alex Vila added another home run for the Tigers, who have won five straight.

Bonderman (5-6) grabbed the win after allowing three runs on four hits and a walk while fanning a pair for Detroit, which has won 17 of its last 19 games at home. Jose Valverde retired the side in order in the ninth to record his 19th save of the season.

"We played well. The guys battled and came up with big hits and made some great plays behind me," Bonderman said about the game. "It's a great team win. We'll come in [Sunday] and try to take the last one."

Minnesota starter Nick Blackburn (7-7) was roughed up to the tune of seven runs on seven hits, including four home runs, in four-plus innings for the slumping Twins, who have dropped four in a row and six of seven and are now four games back of the Tigers.

Twins first baseman Justin Morneau missed his third straight game Saturday with concussion-like symptoms and will not make the trip to Anaheim for the All-Star Game. A head and concussion specialist in Detroit examined Morneau on Saturday and recommended rest. He will be re-evaluated in Minnesota over the All-Star break.

One of the most pleasant surprises during the first half of this season has been the pitching of Twins veteran Carl Pavano, who is 9-6 with a 3.58 ERA. The righty has only walked 17 batters through 118 innings, and the pinpoint control has been key to his success.

Pavano wasn't effective in his most recent start, however, as he was roughed up for six earned runs on eight hits in 6 1/3 innings against Toronto and did not figure in the decision.

He lost his only previous start against Detroit this season despite surrendering just two earned runs in eight innings. Pavano is 4-2 with a 2.88 ERA in his career against the Tigers.

Detroit is slated to send Andrew Oliver to the hill today, and he is in search of his first win in the majors. Oliver, who has made three starts to date, is 0-2 with a 5.93 ERA and struggled mightily Monday against Baltimore, allowing five earned runs in just 1 2/3 innings of action in front of a disappointed home crowd.

Oliver's only previous start against Minnesota came on June 30 and resulted in defeat. Still, he pitched well in that game, allowing only two earned runs in six innings.

Minnesota has won six of its 11 matchups with the Tigers this season.

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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.

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