Everton signs Junior
Soccer Betting Lines
02/15/2012 - Liverpool, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Everton made a swoop on Wednesday for out-of-contract midfielder Francisco Junior, who joins the Toffees on a two- and-a-half-year deal.
The 20-year-old Portuguese youngster began his career at Benfica but has also spent time with Manchester City, where he appeared for their development side earlier this season.
"I feel very happy to have joined Everton," Junior told the club's official website. "It's a great challenge and now I just want to show my talent to the fans.
"My first mission is to try to get into the first team. Then it is to win over the fans and to win things with Everton. They're a big team and they're a team which is normally challenging for cups or for the European places. That is what I want to do."
Junior is waiting on international clearance before he is eligible to feature for the Goodison Park outfit.
Fort Worth, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Police made a drug bust at Texas Christian University on Wednesday morning, a sting which included the arrest of four football players. The six-month investigation by Fort Worth and TCU Campus Police r
<< Bucs release DT Haynesworth
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"I appreciate Albert playing for us after some key injuries this past season,"
said Buccaneers general manager Mark Domin
<< Erakovic wins Bogota opener
Bogota, Colombia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top-seeded Marina Erakovic of New
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<< Berdych, del Potro advance in Rotterdam
Rotterdam, Netherlands (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former Wimbledon runner-up Tomas
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(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The compressed NBA schedule is much like those KFC Famous
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Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Los Angeles Clippers guard Chauncey Billups underwent successful surgery to repair a torn Achilles tendon on Wednesday. The procedure occurred a little more than a week after he was pronounc
Champion mare Havre de Grace works on Wednesday >>
New Orleans, LA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Horse of the Year Havre de Grace took to
the Fair Grounds track Wednesday morning for her second workout of the year.
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Blue Bombers re-sign OL January >>
Winnipeg, MB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Winnipeg Blue Bombers have re-signed
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January started every game at right tackle for the Blue Bombers last season
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Azarenka rolls; Wozniacki falls in Doha opener >>
Doha, Qatar (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - World No. 1 Belarusian stalwart Victoria
Azarenka was an easy second-round winner, while former top-ranked star
Caroline Wozniacki was among Wednesday's second-round losers at the $2.168
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Twins sign Casilla to one-year deal >>
Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Minnesota Twins signed infielder Alexi
Casilla to a one-year contract on Wednesday, thereby avoiding arbitration.
Casilla will earn $1,382,500 million in 2012.
In 97 games with the Twins last seaso
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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