Cubs come alive in series finale against Brewers

Baseball Betting Lines

08/04/2010 - Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Aramis Ramirez, Geovany Soto and Blake DeWitt each hit a three-run homer, as the Chicago Cubs crushed the Milwaukee Brewers, 15-3, to avoid getting swept.

It was a big offensive day for the Cubs, who recorded a season-high in runs and totaled 16 hits -- including a career-high four from rookie Starlin Castro. Soto finished 3-for-5 with five runs batted in, while Tyler Colvin added a solo homer.

Ryan Dempster (9-8) gave up three unearned runs in six innings for Chicago, which dropped the first two contests of this series, which featured two lopsided games. The Brewers won Monday's opener by an 18-1 score.

Milwaukee starter Manny Parra (3-9) allowed six runs on six hits and three walks in 5 2/3 innings. He also struck out eight, but lost his fourth consecutive decision.

Jim Edmonds went 2-for-3 for the Brewers, who have lost six of eight overall.

Following Colvin's two-out homer in the third, Milwaukee took the lead in the fifth. With runners on the corners and two outs, a throwing error by Jeff Baker allowed Edmonds to score. Corey Hart followed with a two-run double to make it a 3-1 contest.

But the Cubs exploded for six runs in the sixth to take command. With two on and one out, Soto hit an RBI single. After Parra struck out Alfonso Soriano, DeWitt and Baker followed with run-scoring singles.

Parra was removed in favor of Todd Coffey as Ramirez came up as a pinch- hitter and slammed a three-run shot to left-center to make it a 7-3 game.

Soto's three-run blast off LaTroy Hawkins in the seventh extended Chicago's lead to seven, and the hosts added five runs in the eighth. Derrek Lee hit an RBI double, Soto added a run-scoring single, and DeWitt tacked on his three- run shot, which just sneaked over the right field fence.

Game Notes

Hawkins was ejected in the seventh after hitting Soriano with a pitch. Brewers manager Ken Macha was tossed shortly thereafter for arguing with home plate umpire Tom Hallion's decision...Carlos Zambrano pitched a scoreless seventh for the Cubs, who announced Wednesday he would be re-inserted into the rotation. He will get the ball Monday against San Francisco, taking the spot held by the injured Carlos Silva (irregular heartbeat). Zambrano has not started since June 25, when a blowup in the dugout resulted in a month-long suspension.

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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.

NFL Betting Lines

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