Cueto, Reds blank D'Backs
Baseball Betting Lines
07/01/2009 - Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Johnny Cueto tossed six shutout innings and the Reds bullpen finished the two-hitter from there, as Cincinnati blanked Arizona, 1-0, in the second of three games with the Diamondbacks.
Cueto (8-4) surrendered one hit and struck out eight, but walked four. However, he kept the Diamondbacks off the scoreboard, and Arthur Rhodes, David Weathers and Francisco Cordero each tossed a scoreless inning of relief as the Reds notched their seventh shutout this season.
Rhodes allowed the only other hit and walked two, while Cordero notched his 19th save this season.
Joey Votto went 2-for-4 and drove in the game's lone run for Cincinnati, which went 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position, but held on to win for the third time in its last four games.
Jon Garland (4-8) allowed the one run on six hits in six innings of work for the Diamondbacks, and was dealt the loss. He has not won a start since May 19, going 0-6 in eight outings since then.
Felipe Lopez and Gerardo Parra had a hit each for Arizona, which won the opener of this series on Tuesday, but lost for the ninth time in its last 11 games. The Diamondbacks have not won back-to-back games since defeating Kansas City on June 17 and 18.
The Reds pushed a run across in the sixth, which Chris Dickerson opened with a single. Dickerson went to second on Jerry Hairston Jr.'s groundout, then scored when Votto's blooper fell for a single.
The Diamondbacks had a tremendous chance to score in the next inning, as Parra reached base on a bunt single to lead off. Parra moved to second on Rhodes' wild pitch, and Chris Young followed with a walk.
The runners moved into scoring position on Miguel Montero's sacrifice, but Rhodes struck out pinch-hitter Ryan Roberts. After Rhodes walked pinch-hitter Tony Clark, he got Lopez to fly out to end the threat.
Cincinnati had a scoring opportunity in the bottom of the seventh, loading the bases with one out. But Clay Zavada, who began the frame in place of Cueto, fanned Dickerson for the second out before Juan Gutierrez entered and ended the inning on a Hairston pop-out.
Weathers worked a 1-2-3 eighth and Cordero tossed a perfect ninth to secure the 1-0 victory.
Game Notes
Cueto improved to 3-0 with a 1.80 ERA in four lifetime starts vs. Arizona...Cueto has also had four starts this season in which he did not give up an earned run...Cordero is 19-for-20 in save opportunities this season...Dickerson and Ramon Hernandez each had two hits for the Reds...Each team left seven runners on base...Cueto threw 108 pitches (58 strikes) in his six innings, while Garland needed 71 (50 strikes) to make it through six...The Diamondbacks were shut out for the sixth time this season...Cincinnati recorded its first shutout since May 5.
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FOOTBALL BETTING : Crabtree's base deal: six years, $32 million
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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