White Sox put home streak on line in finale with Mariners

Baseball Betting Lines

07/29/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago White Sox try for their first 11-game home winning streak in 21 years this evening, when they attempt to complete a four- game sweep of the Seattle Mariners at U.S. Cellular Field.

Chicago won for the 17th time in its last 18 games at home on Wednesday, as Alex Rios singled home the go-ahead run in the bottom of the seventh inning to lift the White Sox to a 6-5 victory.

Gordon Beckham clubbed a two-run homer while Alexei Ramirez and Paul Konerko both hit solo shots for the White Sox, who haven't won 11 straight at home since a 13-game run July 1-Aug. 5, 1989 at Comiskey Park.

Chicago, which erased an early 5-1 deficit, maintained its one-game lead over Minnesota in the AL Central standings after the Twins defeated Kansas City earlier Wednesday.

"Offensively we did a lot of great things today," White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said afterward. "It's a team to win this game today. There were a lot of things clicking for us."

With another win tonight, the White Sox would have their first four-game home sweep of the Mariners since turning the trick from Sept. 15-18, 1983.

Chone Figgins blasted a two-run homer for the Mariners, who have dropped seven of their last 10 games. Seattle has also lost eight of nine to the White Sox this season.

Getting the call for the White Sox tonight will be righty Freddy Garcia, who is coming off the shortest outing of his career. Garcia absorbed his first loss in seven decisions on Saturday in Oakland, as the A's pounded him for five runs and six hits in just 1 1/3 innings to drop him to 9-4 to go along with a 4.74 ERA.

Garcia, who spent his first five-plus major league seasons in Seattle, is 3-3 with a 5.57 ERA in eight starts against the Mariners.

Seattle will counter with righty David Pauley, who is 0-2 with a 2.18 ERA. Pauley lost his first two starts, but did not get a decision Saturday against Boston despite an impressive showing that saw him surrender one run and five hits in 5 2/3 innings of his team's 5-1 loss.

Chicago has won seven straight at home against the Mariners and is 11-1 in its last 12 against them on the South Side of Chicago.

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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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