Tigers vie to break even in matchup with Royals

Baseball Betting Lines

09/04/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Detroit Tigers can pull back to .500 in the midst of a lengthy second-half slump tonight, when they visit Kauffman Stadium for the second of three weekend games with the host Kansas City Royals.

The Tigers won Friday's opener, 9-5, when Will Rhymes' two-run triple in the top of 11th highlighted the four-run inning.

Ryan Raburn added his ninth homer in 21 games and drove in two runs for the Tigers, who have recently won three of five. Raburn has been on a tear during the 21-game stretch, batting nearly .350 over his torrid streak.

Brandon Inge had two hits and two RBI, while Don Kelly had three hits in the win. Ryan Perry (3-5) earned the victory with two scoreless innings of relief after Jeremy Bonderman allowed four runs, seven hits and five walks in a 7 1/3-inning start.

The Tigers were in contention in the American League's Central Division at the All-Star break, but went on to lose 13 of 17 games over the remainder of July before going 13-16 in August.

They enter Saturday sitting third in the division, 11 games behind first-place Minnesota.

Alex Gordon homered, while Yuniesky Betancourt drove in two runs for the Royals, who have lost five of seven. Starting pitcher Zack Greinke had a no- hitter through 4 1/3 frames before faltering, giving up four runs, six hits and two walks while fanning only three in 6 1/3 frames.

On the mound for Detroit tonight will be young right-hander Rick Porcello, who tries to duplicate a gem against Kansas City two starts ago. In that Aug. 24 outing at Comerica Park, the 21-year-old allowed just two hits and struck out four in seven scoreless innings of the Tigers' 9-1 victory.

He allowed 10 hits and three runs in a previous 2010 start against the Royals, back on April 14, and picked up a no-decision in a 7-3 Detroit loss.

Porcello earned just his second road win of the season in his last outing, scattering three hits in seven innings while allowing one run and striking out four in a 10-4 triumph at Toronto on Sunday.

For Kansas City, journeyman southpaw Bruce Chen can reach double-digit wins for the second time in a career that's seen him pitch for 10 teams when he toes the rubber tonight.

The 33-year-old Panamanian debuted in the big leagues with the Atlanta Braves in 1998 and pitched for Philadelphia, the New York Mets, Montreal, Cincinnati, Boston and Houston before finally breaking through for 13 wins with the Baltimore Orioles in 2005.

He was winless in 40 appearances with Baltimore a year later, however, and has subsequently pitched for Texas and the Royals while going 10-13 with a save in 49 appearances.

Chen has made 17 starts in 27 outings with Kansas City in 2010 and picked up win No. 9 Sunday at Cleveland with six innings of six-hit, two-run ball in a 6-2 triumph.

He allowed five hits and five runs in 4 1/3 innings of a 12-3 loss to the Tigers in Detroit on Aug. 23 and is 1-3 in nine career appearances (seven starts) against the Tigers.

The Tigers have won seven of 13 meetings with the Royals so far 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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