Toronto Gets Caicedo Into Season

Soccer Betting Lines

Lille, the defending Ligue 1 champion, is currently third in the standings and seven points behind first-place PSG.

 

Hertha had previously agreed to add Bastians this summer, but the transfer was pushed through during the winter break. Bastians played for numerous teams on loan while at Nottingham, and then joined Young Boys in Switzerland before his return to Germany with Freiburg in 2009.

 

Lorient, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Lorient signed defender Lamine Gassama from Lyon on Thursday on a 4 1/2-year deal. Gassama, 22, made his debut for Lyon in 2008, and played 17 matches during his stint with the seven-time Ligue 1 champions.

 

The French-born Gassama played for France at the Under-21 level, but has spent his senior career with Senegal, making two appearances for the country so far this year.

 

Kilmarnock, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kilmarnock signed Belgian striker Dieter van Tornhout from Cyprus side Nea Salamis on Thursday on a deal through the summer of 2013. Van Tornhout, 26, becomes the fourth winter signing for Killie, who previously added defender Ben Gordon from Chelsea, defender Michael Nelson from Scunthorpe and midfielder Dean Shiels, the son of manager Kenny Shiels, from Doncaster Rovers.

 

"[Van Tornhout] is over six feet tall, he holds the ball well and will connect the top end of the pitch for us," Coach Shiels said. "He moves well with a decent understanding of the game. He's a big lad so he'll offer us a different style. We've become a little bit predictable at times so he'll give us variety in attack."

 

San Jose, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Jose Earthquakes signed forward Sercan Guvenisik on Thursday, pending receipt of his P-1 visa. Guvenisik, 31, comes to MLS from SC Preussen Muenster of the Bundesliga 3. He scored 14 goals in 56 league matches after returning for his second stint with the club in 2010.

 

Guvenisik also played there in 2005-06, while previously playing for Paderborn 07, Rot-Weiss Essen, Carl Zeiss Jena, SC Feucht, and Duisburg in Germany. He played six times for Duisburg in the Bundesliga, Germany's top division.

 

"I am really happy to sign with the San Jose Earthquakes and Major League Soccer," said Guvenisik. "It has always been my dream to play in the United States."

 

He started his MLS career with the Columbus Crew in 2002 and remained with the club through 2006. He then played for the Chicago Fire from 2007-09, winning a MLS Goalkeeper of the Year award in 2007.

Wwwclubchance Soccer Betting Blog

<< Toronto Against Terms Zusi

<< Points Into Lead Quarter

<< 16 Points Down Lead 15 Rebounds

<< Road Trip Helps Love At Quarter

<< Cup Leads Birdie From Career

New England New Crush Pound Into Bowl >>

Career Winnipeg Highlight Host Down Skid >>

Nadal Adds Game In Champion >>

Grand Slam Leads Set From Bryans >>

Red Sox Helps Gomes At Giants >>

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.