Pirates beat Jones in arbitration; avoid hearing with McGehee
Baseball Betting Lines
02/16/2012 - Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pittsburgh Pirates won their salary arbitration case with first baseman Garrett Jones and avoided a hearing with newly-acquired third baseman Casey McGehee.
Jones will earn a salary of $2.25 million for 2012 instead of the $2.5 million he had requested. It's a hefty raise from the $455,000 he was paid in 2011, when he hit .243 with 16 homers and 58 runs batted in.
The 30-year-old Illinois native has spent the last three seasons with the Pirates after appearing in 31 games for Minnesota in 2007. He slugged 21 homers in each of his first two seasons in Pittsburgh and has 60 career home runs with 193 RBI and a .254 batting average.
Terms of McGehee's deal were not disclosed, but he had asked for $2.725 million through arbitration and the Pirates had offered $2.35 million.
McGehee was acquired from Milwaukee earlier this offseason in a deal that sent pitcher Jose Veras to the Brewers. He became expendable in Milwaukee when the Brewers signed former Pirate Aramis Ramirez as a free agent.
After a pair of promising seasons, including a 23-homer, 104-RBI campaign in 2010, McGehee hit just .223 with 13 home runs and 67 RBI in 155 games last year. He also batted .301 in 2009, his first season with the Brewers.
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Rangers seem to be on cruise control in the race for the top seed in the Eastern Conference, but the last few weeks have been anything but a smooth ride for the struggling Chicago Blackhawks. Chicago will try
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(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Central Division-leading Chicago Bulls resume a six-
game homestand tonight aiming for a measure of revenge over the Boston
Celtics.
The Celtics snapped a five-game winning streak by the Bulls in Beantown,
95-91, this
<< Pacers aim to continue dominance over Nets
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The suddenly struggling Indiana Pacers will attempt to
right the ship Thursday when they shoot for a 10th consecutive win over the
New Jersey Nets.
Early in the season the Pacers, who are kicking off a three-game homestand
<< Clippers invade Rip City to take on Blazers
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pacific Division-leading Los Angeles Clippers invade
Rip City on Thursday to take on a Portland Trail Blazers team that expects to
be without All-Star LaMarcus Aldridge for a second consecutive night.
The Clips returne
<< Bulldogs and Broncos battle in WCC affair
Santa Clara, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Desperate to put an end to a 13-game slide,
the Santa Clara Broncos have the unenviable task of entertaining 24th-ranked
Gonzaga in West Coast Conference action at the Leavey Center tonight.
Santa Clara, wh
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The St. Louis Blues will try to rebound from just their third regulation loss of 2012 when they host the New York Islanders tonight at Scottrade Center. St. Louis has gone 13-3-2 since the start of January and one of the f
Leino, Sabres visit Flyers >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The struggling Philadelphia Flyers hope the return of Ilya
Bryzgalov can help them avoid their sixth loss in seven games, as they get set
to host the Buffalo Sabres in tonight's clash at Wells Fargo Center.
The Flyers are
Sliding Wild welcome Jets to St. Paul >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The last time the Wild and Jets squared off, Minnesota was
at the top of the NHL standings. Things have certainly changed since.
Minnesota hopes to avoid a sixth straight defeat and falling further back in
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Sharks continue trek with test in Tampa >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After splitting the first two tests of an epic nine-game
road trip, the San Jose Sharks will travel to the Sunshine State for tonight's
battle against the Lightning at Tampa Times Forum.
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Flames battle Stars in Big D >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Flames have been racking up points so far in February
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Calgary puts a six-game point streak on the line this evening against the
Dallas Star
Sportsbooks to bet on football
Recently I had an email debate with an angry reader who said I did not understand "the science of oddsmaking", as he called it.
He said I was wrong for suggesting oddsmakers care about who wins or loses games.
"Oddsmakers only care about splitting the betting public 50/50 on both sides of the line and keeping the commission (a.k.a. juice)," he wrote.
He might have been right about not understanding "the science of oddsmaking". After all, I'm not an oddsmaker. That said, I stick to my assertion that oddsmakers (a.k.a. sportbooks) often do care about who wins games.
Granted, as a general rule, sportsbooks try to balance their action so that they're not exposed to big losses. However, there are times when this is difficult to pull off, regardless of how much a line has moved. There are also times when that general rule is ignored and a book pursues risk.
Generally speaking, it's safe to say the books in Vegas are risk-adverse. Unlike in the past when the wise guys ruled the town, Vegas is now corporate and the goal of most casinos is to make as much money as possible with as little risk as possible.
Thus, Vegas sportsbooks try everything in their power to balance the action. They're satisfied simply collecting the juice. But these profits are small, especially compared to the take from other casino games, namely slot machines.
Because the profits at Vegas sportsbooks are so small, you could argue that many casinos operate sportsbooks simply as a novelty to keep the tourists happy.
With a growing aversion to risk, it should come as no surprise that Vegas bookmakers have been panicking this NFL season.
Despite huge pointspreads, a disproportionate percentage of bettors are still laying their money on favorites like the Eagles, Colts, Pats and Vikings rather than the dogs (a common trend for the largely recreational bettors that visit Vegas).
And much to the dismay of the books, those favorites are finding ways to cover the thick chalk. In fact, prior to Week 7, the four teams listed above are a combined 16-2-2 (88 percent) against the spread. (The tables turned dramatically in Week 7, but more on that later.)
The result has been an early-season beating for the books, and a bonanza for bettors.
While Vegas increasingly hates risk, it's no longer a major player in the sports betting world. Most of the betting action now takes place offshore where sportsbooks are not as obsessed about balance. In fact, some books encourage exposure to risk because the rewards can be so much bigger.
Consider MySportsbook.com. On its website, the book has odds pages which actually display the amount of action it's getting on games. In other words, you can see how much action the book is taking on both sides of a pointspread, moneyline or over/under.
One look at these numbers and it's obvious MySportsbook.com does not balance every game. In fact, far from it.
Take last weekend's matchup between St. Louis and Miami. By game time on Sunday, 83 percent of the betting action at MySportsbook.com was on the Rams; only 17 percent was on Miami.
What's interesting is that MySportsbook.com opened the pointspread with Miami at +6 1/2. By game time, the spread had lowered to +5.
That goes contrary to the balancing theory. If MySportsbook.com had wanted to balance the action, it would have given Miami more points; instead, it took away 1 1/2. World Series odds are now up as well.
MySportsbook.com exposed itself to even more to risk, and rolled the dice on the underdog Dolphins. Why? I contacted a representative with the book to find out. His answer was simple.
"The line moved early based on 'smart money' from sharp players," said Jeff Gilroy, a spokesperson for the book. "We also knew from early in the week that we would need Miami, therefore (we dropped) the spread to encourage Rams money.
"At the end of the day, we liked the home team."
So the conclusion is this: MySportsbook.com respected the sharp action, and gambled that the sharp bettors had a better take on the game than the recreational bettors, who were hammering the visiting Rams.
In the end, the gamble paid off. Miami, desperate for a win in front of its home fans, pounded the overrated Rams, who are terrible on the road and even worse on grass. Final score: 31-14 Fish.
MySportsbook.com was also heavily exposed on numerous favorites in Week 7, including Philadelphia, Seattle and Denver. All three failed to cover.
The fact that sportsbooks are exposed to risk on certain games is really nothing new. The fact, that Sportsbook.com is willing to show the public where it's exposed is intriguing.
Armed with this type of information, bettors can make more educated wagers. They can get an idea where the sharp money is going and conversely where the public money is headed.
MySportsbook.com is opening up its cashbox, letting bettors look inside and challenging them to take their best shot at grabbing the cash.
To visit this online football betting got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting odds needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.