Oswalt traded to Phillies

Baseball Betting Lines

07/29/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia Phillies completed their trade for Roy Oswalt on Thursday, acquiring the pitcher from the Houston Astros.

The Phillies also received cash considerations, and sent pitcher J.A. Happ and two prospects -- outfielder Anthony Gose and infielder Jonathan Villar -- to Houston.

Oswalt will make his first Phillies start Friday in Washington.

Oswalt is owed approximately $5 million for the remainder of this season. He's due to make $16 million next season and there is a club option of $16 million in 2012 or a $2 million buyout.

The 32-year-old Oswalt, who has only pitched for Houston over his 10-year career, is 6-12 with a 3.42 ERA this season. He's lost his last two starts, but has received little run support from his team. In fact, the Astros have scored two runs or less each of the last six times he's pitched.

With 143 wins, Oswalt is one victory shy of matching Joe Niekro as the all- time leader in Astros franchise history.

The addition of Oswalt gives the surging Phillies a powerful 1-2-3 punch in the rotation, led by Roy Halladay and Cole Hamels. Additionally, the Phillies acquired a frontline starter for the second straight season, having traded for Cliff Lee last year.

Lee helped the Phillies reach the World Series for a second consecutive year in 2009, and Philadelphia is hoping Oswalt will help the club in its push to get back there this year.

The Phillies have won a season-best seven games in a row and were 3 1/2 games behind first-place Atlanta in the NL East standings following Wednesday's games. The Astros are well out of the playoff race at 42-59, and now lose the face of their rotation.

In return, Houston gets a young left-hander in Happ. The 27-year-old broke out in 2009, when he went 12-4 with a 2.93 earned run average in 35 games (23 starts). He had three complete games, two shutouts and finished second in the NL Rookie of the Year voting.

Happ has made only three starts this season, as he went on the disabled list in April with a left forearm strain. On Sunday, Happ made his first start since returning from the DL, and is 1-0 with a 1.76 ERA this year.

Sportslne Baseball Betting News

<< Tseng and Hull lead Women's British Open
South Port, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Yani Tseng and Katherine Hull both posted rounds of four-under 68 on Thursday to share the first-round lead of the Women's British Open at Royal Birkdale. Tseng and Hull both eagled the last

<< Howell's 64 leads Irish Open
Killarney, Ireland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - England's David Howell fired a seven- under 64 on Thursday to take the first-round lead at the Irish Open at Killarney Golf & Fishing Club. Richard Green and Damien McGrane both posted ro

<< Rain wipes out Day 4 in Umag
Umag, Croatia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rain washed away Thursday's second-round schedule at the clay-court Croatia Open. Second-seeded French Open semifinalist Jurgen Melzer of Austria was scheduled to face Czech Jan Hajek and third-seede

<< Big South teams embrace playoff bid
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Almost everywhere you look, Liberty is considered the prohibitive favorite to win the Big South football title this fall. The rest of the conference, however, has motivation that goes way beyond feeling o

<< Schiavone ousted in Istanbul
Istanbul, Turkey (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - French Open champion Francesca Schiavone was a second-round loser Thursday at the $220,000 Istanbul Cup hardcourt tennis event. Britain's Elena Baltacha sent the top-seeded Schiavone pa

Seahawks sign free agent G Pitts >>
Renton, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Seattle Seahawks have signed free agent guard Chester Pitts. Though terms of the deal were not disclosed by the club, the Seattle Post- Intelligencer reported on Thursday that Pitts was br

Sabres' Kennedy awarded one-year deal >>
Buffalo, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Buffalo Sabres forward Tim Kennedy was awarded a one-year contract worth $1 million by an arbitrator on Thursday. Per guidelines set in the NHL's current Collective Bargaining Agreement, the Sabres cannot

NCAA penalizes Arizona basketball program >>
Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The NCAA has penalized the University of Arizona for major violations involving the men's basketball program. The NCAA said in its release that the violations, which include impermissible

Desmond helps Nats win series from Braves >>
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ian Desmond went 2-for-3 with a home run and drove in two, as the Washington Nationals edged the Atlanta Braves, 5-3, in the rubber match of a three-game series. Scott Olsen (3-2), who was reinstated from

Real Madrid sold its 'soul' to Schalke >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Raul in Royal Blue? Fitting, I guess, even if it's tough to imagine. Raul ended his 16-year stay at Real Madrid this week and started his second life at Schalke on Thursday. Signed to a "lifetime contract"

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.