07/03/2009 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - There's some sort of buzz going on right now in Los Angeles. Is Eric Karros making a return to the Dodgers? Did Juan Pierre embarrass himself by rapping in public again?
Oh wait, Manny Ramirez is returning from his 50-game suspension Friday to help the National League West-leading Dodgers kick off a nine-game road trip against the Padres, Mets and Brewers.
If you don't own a television, do not read newspapers or web sites, then you would have no idea that Ramirez is back after violating the league's substance abuse policy for taking performance enhancing drugs. One of the most feared hitters this past decade, Ramirez, who's been the talk of the town lately, was slapped with a 50-game suspension on May 7 and baseball was slapped even harder in the face. The league's poster boy for antics and dominant skills, Ramirez served his time and even got some swings in at the minor league level. Now he just has to adjust to major league pitching and that certainly won't be a problem.
"We're looking forward to having Manny back," Dodgers manager Joe Torre said earlier this week on the team's official site. "I think he'll add something to our lineup."
How perceptive of you, Joe.
You have to feel bad for Padres starter Chad Gaudin, who gets to face Ramirez Friday night at Petco Park. LA fans will surely hit the road to San Diego to see one of the best hitters in baseball take center stage. The Dodgers played to a solid 29-21 mark without the slugger in the lineup and still lead the NL West with a comfortable 7 1/2-game lead over San Francisco. They were 6 1/2 games ahead of the competition and 21-8 when Ramirez was suspended.
LA still has the best record in baseball at 50-29 and got a huge lift from Juan Pierre in Ramirez's absence. Pierre started all 50 games in left field and did a fine job for Torre, going 68-for-214 for a .318 average with 14 doubles, 21 RBI, 31 runs, 15 walks and 20 steals in those games.
The Dodgers won't return to Chavez Ravine until after the All-Star break, when the "Mannywood" seats re-open for business. Ramirez was hitting .348 with six homers and 20 RBI before the suspension.
WILD CARD-LEADING GIANTS OPEN HOMESTAND
The San Francisco Giants will play by the Bay until after the All-Star break, as they open a 10-game homestand Friday versus Houston, Florida and San Diego.
The Giants (42-36) have won three straight as the host and sport a 24-12 record at AT&T Park this season. While winning the NL West division is a long shot with a 7 1/2-game deficit, San Francisco is currently in the driver's seat in the wild card standings. The lead isn't a big one, just a half-game ahead of Milwaukee and St. Louis, but it's better than not having one at all.
Starting pitching has been the key to the Giants' latest success, especially Matt Cain. Cain will most likely earn an All-Star nod and has lasted at least seven innings over four consecutive trips to the hill. He is 9-2 with a 2.48 ERA in 16 starts this season, and has taken away some of the load off of Tim Lincecum's young shoulder's.
Lincecum, last year's NL Cy Young Award winner, is just plain nasty. He has recorded three complete games over his past four starts, and has lasted no less than eight innings over that span. The righty is 8-2 with a 2.37 ERA through 16 outings in 2009, and will most likely join Cain on the NL All-Star roster.
Youngster Ryan Sadowski will shoot for an encore performance tonight in the opener against the Astros. Sadowski made his major league debut on Sunday at Milwaukee and threw six shutout innings in a 7-0 victory, scattering four hits and striking out two batters with three walks. The righty was 5-2 with a 4.11 earned run average in 13 starts for Triple-A Fresno before being recalled.
ROCKIES' MARQUIS LEADS NL IN WINS
The Colorado Rockies took a shot on Jason Marquis this offseason and the right-hander hasn't disappointed.
Marquis is on pace to finish with a career high in wins, as he sports a 10-5 record and a 3.87 earned run average in 16 starts this season. He posted his NL-leading 10th win in fashion on June 30 at the Los Angeles Dodgers, as he recorded his second complete game this season and third shutout of his career. Marquis held the Dodgers to a pair of hits in the 3-0 victory and fanned three batters. He also drove in two runs and threw 86 pitches, 66 for strikes.
"I can promise you in all the games that I've managed in the big leagues, I can't tell out that I've had a starting pitcher that pitched a nine-inning, complete-game shutout and did it with less than 90 pitches," Rockies manager Jim Tracy said on the team's site following the game.
It was Colorado's second win in 11 games against LA this season -- and both were with Marquis on the mound. It also gave the Rockies 21 wins in June, a club record for any month. The Rox won 20 in the September surge of 2007 that led to a playoff berth and their first World Series appearance.
The veteran right-hander has posted 10 or more wins in six straight seasons and improved to 6-2 over his previous nine starts. Marquis is on pace to finish with a career high in wins, and his best campaign came in 2004 as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals. He was 15-7 in 32 starts that year.
Colorado (41-37) is back home after a lengthy road trip and will open a three- game series tonight against the NL West-rival Arizona Diamondbacks at Coors Field. It went 5-4 on a nine-game road swing through Anaheim, Oakland and Los Angeles and dropped two of three matchups with the Dodgers, including Wednesday's 1-0 loss behind Rafael Furcal's pinch-hit RBI single in the eighth inning off Rockies starter Jason Hammel. Hammel pitched brilliantly, allowing only that one run on five hits with five strikeouts through eight innings.
The Rockies, who are one game behind San Francisco for the top spot in the NL wild card standings, have won 21 of their past 26 games and own a 23-9 record under Tracy.
GONZALEZ SLOWING DOWN IN SAN DIEGO?
Hits and homers have been hard to come by for San Diego Padres first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, who has just two home runs since going deep in four straight games from May 30-June 2.
Gonzalez also hasn't had more than one hit in a game since a 4-for-4 effort against the Seattle Mariners on June 18. He has just seven total hits since then, spanning 41 at-bats and 13 games.
On a more positive note for the slugging Friar, Gonzalez has appeared in every game dating back to August 15, 2007 -- a stretch of 285 games. San Diego's all-time record for consecutive games played is held by Steve Garvey, who appeared in 305 straight games.
San Diego (34-44) has lost two straight, six of nine and 13 of its last 19 games. It fell to just 1-3 on a seven-game homestand versus the Astros and Dodgers. The Padres will welcome Manny Ramirez and LA to Petco Park for a three-game series over the weekend. Ramirez is coming off a 50-game suspension for the use of performance enhancing drugs.
SERIES WINS NOT COMING FOR D-BACKS
The Arizona Diamondbacks are brutal. They sit last in the NL West standings at 19 games off the pace and are also 11 1/2 games behind in the wild card race.
Over its last 11 series, Arizona (31-48) is only 1-8-2, with the lone victory coming against the Kansas City Royals from June 16-18. The D-Backs haven't won a series against a National League team since winning three of four matchups against the Florida Marlins from May 19-21.
Much of the blame can be directed towards the starting pitching staff. Brandon Webb is pretty much done for the season, Jon Garland hasn't won since May 19 and Doug Davis owns one win since May 4. Dan Haren and Max Scherzer have been respectable, but overall the rotation is under siege.
Garland has lost six of his last eight starts after opening the campaign 4-2 in eight trips to the hill. Garland is just 4-8 with a 4.81 ERA in 16 starts.
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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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