Richard, Padres continue to roll in win over Cubs

Baseball Betting Lines

08/18/2010 - Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Clayton Richard allowed just one run in 6 2/3 strong innings, leading the San Diego Padres to a 5-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs in the third of four games at Wrigley Field.

Richard (11-5) yielded seven hits and two walks while fanning two for the Padres, who have won four straight and nine of 10 to increase their lead over the Giants to 5 1/2 games in the NL West. Adrian Gonzalez added his 23rd homer and scored three times, reaching base in each of his five plate appearances.

Matt Stairs added two RBI on a first-inning double in the win.

Jeff Baker hit an RBI double for the struggling Cubs, who have lost 17 of 21 overall and nine of their last 10 games at home. Casey Coleman (0-1), making his first career start, allowed three runs on six hits and three walks in 4 1/3 frames to take the loss.

After the game, the Cubs reached agreement with the Braves to send long-time first baseman Derrek Lee to Atlanta. In return, Chicago will receive three minor league pitchers.

The Padres reached Coleman for two runs in the opening inning.

Jerry Hairston, Jr. walked with one down, and Gonzalez followed with a four- pitch walk. After Chase Headley was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Stairs doubled to left to plate two runners.

The Cubs got on the board on back-to-back doubles by Alfonso Soriano and Baker in the second, but Richard shut down the Chicago offense from there.

Gonzalez restored San Diego's two-run lead with a solo homer in the third, and Richard pitched into the seventh without giving up another run. He was pulled after giving up a two-out single in favor of Luke Gregerson, who struck out Marlon Byrd to end the inning.

Gonzalez singled and scored on a wild pitch in the eighth, while Headley hit a sacrifice fly in the ninth to add two insurance runs for San Diego.

Game Notes

The Cubs have lost six straight at home...Richard has won his last four decisions...Soriano went 2-for-4 for Chicago with his 30th double.

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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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