Athletics sign Suzuki to new 4-year contract

Baseball Betting Lines

07/23/2010 -

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) -The Oakland Athletics have signed catcher Kurt Suzuki to a new four-year contract that keeps him locked up through his arbitration years.

The deal announced Friday supersedes his previous 2010 contract and includes a club option for the 2014 season. The option year is the first year Suzuki is eligible for free agency.

The 26-year-old Suzuki is a key part of Oakland's future. He has led all AL catchers in games started the past two seasons and became only the second catcher in franchise history to lead the team in RBIs with 88 last season.

He is hitting .257 with 37 RBIs and a team-leading 10 home runs in 68 games this year.Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

Wwwentertaindom Baseball Betting News

<< Swisher out of Yanks lineup with sore heel
NEW YORK (AP) -Right fielder Nick Swisher was a late scratch from the New York Yankees' lineup because he woke up with a sore left Achilles' heel.Swisher was initially set to bat second Friday, but when he arrived at Yankee Stadium before the game a

<< Oakland locks up C Suzuki with extension
Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Oakland Athletics and catcher Kurt Suzuki have agreed to a contract extension through the 2014 season with a vesting option for 2015. The San Francisco Chronicle reported Friday that the deal is

<< Dodgers designate Miller, recall Jansen
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Dodgers have designated pitcher Justin Miller for assignment and recalled pitcher Kenley Jansen. The right-hander posted a 4.44 earned run average and no record in 19 rel

<< Thomas and Liu in finals of U.S. Junior
Ada, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Justin Thomas and Jim Liu both won twice on Friday to advance to Saturday's 36-hole final of the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship. Thomas, 17, earned a 2 & 1 victory over Scott Wolfes

<< Coaches: Players also responsible for agent probe
HOOVER, Ala. (AP) -Tennessee coach Derek Dooley and Auburn's Gene Chizik both say the onus isn't just on agents to follow the rules, college athletes know the difference between right and wrong.``A lot of this has got to go back to the young guy,''

Bolts sign C Pouliot; add Fleming to coaching staff >>
Tampa, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday signed center Marc-Antoine Pouliot to a one-year, two-way contract. The 25-year-old Pouliot registered seven goals and 14 points in 35 games with Edmonton last season. "He

Royals' DeJesus out for the year >>
Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kansas City Royals outfielder David DeJesus is scheduled to undergo season-ending surgery on his right thumb after further examination showed a complete tear of the ulnar collateral ligament. Earlier Frida

Peters takes truck pole at ORP >>
Clermont, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Timothy Peters will start on the pole for Friday's AAA Insurance 200 Camping World Truck Series race after topping the qualifying charts at O'Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis. Peters turned a lap of

Lakers: Kobe will return from knee surgery by camp >>
LOS ANGELES (AP) -The Los Angeles Lakers say Kobe Bryant recently underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right knee.Bryant will be fully recovered well before training camp opens Sept. 25, the Lakers said in a brief statement Friday. The two-time NBA

Red Sox activate Beckett for Friday's start >>
Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Red Sox activated Josh Beckett to start Friday's game in Seattle after he spent more than two months on the disabled list with a lower back strain. Beckett has been out the last 56 games si

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

To visit this sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your college football betting needs.