Pirates beat Jones in arbitration; avoid hearing with McGehee
Baseball Betting Lines
02/16/2012 - Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pittsburgh Pirates won their salary arbitration case with first baseman Garrett Jones and avoided a hearing with newly-acquired third baseman Casey McGehee.
Jones will earn a salary of $2.25 million for 2012 instead of the $2.5 million he had requested. It's a hefty raise from the $455,000 he was paid in 2011, when he hit .243 with 16 homers and 58 runs batted in.
The 30-year-old Illinois native has spent the last three seasons with the Pirates after appearing in 31 games for Minnesota in 2007. He slugged 21 homers in each of his first two seasons in Pittsburgh and has 60 career home runs with 193 RBI and a .254 batting average.
Terms of McGehee's deal were not disclosed, but he had asked for $2.725 million through arbitration and the Pirates had offered $2.35 million.
McGehee was acquired from Milwaukee earlier this offseason in a deal that sent pitcher Jose Veras to the Brewers. He became expendable in Milwaukee when the Brewers signed former Pirate Aramis Ramirez as a free agent.
After a pair of promising seasons, including a 23-homer, 104-RBI campaign in 2010, McGehee hit just .223 with 13 home runs and 67 RBI in 155 games last year. He also batted .301 in 2009, his first season with the Brewers.
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Rangers seem to be on cruise control in the race for the top seed in the Eastern Conference, but the last few weeks have been anything but a smooth ride for the struggling Chicago Blackhawks. Chicago will try
<< Bulls and Celtics clash in the Windy City
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Central Division-leading Chicago Bulls resume a six-
game homestand tonight aiming for a measure of revenge over the Boston
Celtics.
The Celtics snapped a five-game winning streak by the Bulls in Beantown,
95-91, this
<< Pacers aim to continue dominance over Nets
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The suddenly struggling Indiana Pacers will attempt to
right the ship Thursday when they shoot for a 10th consecutive win over the
New Jersey Nets.
Early in the season the Pacers, who are kicking off a three-game homestand
<< Clippers invade Rip City to take on Blazers
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pacific Division-leading Los Angeles Clippers invade
Rip City on Thursday to take on a Portland Trail Blazers team that expects to
be without All-Star LaMarcus Aldridge for a second consecutive night.
The Clips returne
<< Bulldogs and Broncos battle in WCC affair
Santa Clara, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Desperate to put an end to a 13-game slide,
the Santa Clara Broncos have the unenviable task of entertaining 24th-ranked
Gonzaga in West Coast Conference action at the Leavey Center tonight.
Santa Clara, wh
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The St. Louis Blues will try to rebound from just their third regulation loss of 2012 when they host the New York Islanders tonight at Scottrade Center. St. Louis has gone 13-3-2 since the start of January and one of the f
Leino, Sabres visit Flyers >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The struggling Philadelphia Flyers hope the return of Ilya
Bryzgalov can help them avoid their sixth loss in seven games, as they get set
to host the Buffalo Sabres in tonight's clash at Wells Fargo Center.
The Flyers are
Sliding Wild welcome Jets to St. Paul >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The last time the Wild and Jets squared off, Minnesota was
at the top of the NHL standings. Things have certainly changed since.
Minnesota hopes to avoid a sixth straight defeat and falling further back in
the playoff race
Sharks continue trek with test in Tampa >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After splitting the first two tests of an epic nine-game
road trip, the San Jose Sharks will travel to the Sunshine State for tonight's
battle against the Lightning at Tampa Times Forum.
Thanks to a tennis tournament curre
Flames battle Stars in Big D >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Flames have been racking up points so far in February
and their latest convincing victory has them within a point of a playoff spot.
Calgary puts a six-game point streak on the line this evening against the
Dallas Star
MySportsbook.com favors Bears, Bengals, Chargers and Colts to remain perfect
LAS VEGAS , Sept. 28 - Two big match-ups of undefeated teams have fans salivating at the Week Four schedule in the NFL. The Chicago Bears stifling defense looks to provide a less than hospitable welcome to the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday night in a battle of two 3-0 teams in the NFC conference. In the AFC, the San Diego Chargers (2-0) head to Maryland to face the surprising Baltimore Ravens (3-0) as both try to keep pace atop the conference standings. Betting Lines makers at MySportsbook.com, online sportsbook and casino, have set the Bears as 3.5 point favorites while the Chargers are a 2.5 point bet.
Of the three remaining undefeated teams, only one, New Orleans, enters this week's game as an underdog. Despite an emotional and resounding win over Atlanta on Monday night, the Saints are a 7.5 point underdog against the struggling Carolina Panthers. Indianapolis looks to stay perfect when they face the New York Jets as a 9 point road favorite while the Cincinnati Bengals are a 6 point favorite at home to the New England Patriots.
Six teams enter the week still looking for their first win, with a seventh, Tampa Bay, on a bye week. The prospect of dropping another game would not bode well for a potential playoff run. Since 1990, just three teams -- the 1992 Chargers, 1995 Detroit Lions and 1998 Buffalo Bills -- have overcome losing their first three games of the season to earn a postseason berth. And only the Chargers managed to accomplish the feat after starting 0-4.
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FOOTBALL BETTING : Crabtree's base deal: six years, $32 million
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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