Season Beats Brewers With Pelfrey

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The major-league record holder for saves in a single season (62), Rodriguez had a 6-2 record with a 2.64 ERA and 23 saves last season, serving mainly as an eighth-inning man with Milwaukee.

 

Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Toronto Blue Jays have signed pitcher Carlos Villanueva to a one-year contract worth $2.27 million, avoiding arbitration. In 33 games last season, his first with Toronto, Villanueva held a record of 6-4 with an earned run average of 4.04. He started 13 of those games, a career high for the right-hander.

 

Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Kansas City Royals have agreed to terms on a contract with outfielder Mitch Maier for the 2012 season, avoiding salary arbitration. Financial terms were not disclosed.

 

Maier is the longest-tenured member on the Royals' 40-man roster and will start his 10th season in the organization. He was selected by the club with the 30th overall pick of the 2003 draft.

 

His 14 wins gave him at least 10 wins in five straight seasons, making him the first Phillies pitcher to do so since Hall of Famer Steve Carlton's 13-year streak from 1972-84.

 

An NLCS and World Series MVP for the Phillies in 2008, Hamels has spent his entire six-year career in Philadelphia and has posted a 74-54 mark to go along with a 3.39 ERA. He's also the Phils' all-time leader in postseason wins with seven.

 

The Phillies also avoided arbitration with infielder Wilson Valdez on Tuesday, making outfielder Hunter Pence the team's lone remaining player eligible.

 

Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pittsburgh Pirates agreed to a one-year deal with pitcher Jeff Karstens, thus avoiding arbitration. Karstens finished 2011 with a 9-9 record and a 3.38 earned run average, the best of his career, in 30 games -- 26 starts-- for the Pirates.

 

Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Milwaukee Brewers have named former infielder Craig Counsell as a special assistant to the general manager. Counsell wrapped up a 16-year big league career in 2011 with the Brewers, for whom he played his final five seasons. He batted .178 in 107 games last year.

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SPORTS BETTING: NFL Football Sportsbook Betting

NFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.


That was the news out of their meetings last week, where team bosses voted unanimously to allow stamping state and local lottery tickets with franchise logos, if, ahem, any governments wanted to do a deal.

A shocker: Within days the Pats announced they'd be sponsoring the Massachusetts state lottery, the Skins said they'd slap their sticker on Virginia scratch-offs and the Ravens admitted they were talking to Maryland lottery bosses. In all likelihood, it won't be long before every team is a presenting sponsor of scratch-offs or just plain old pick fives. "The change in policy was approved 32-0," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "So you can expect to see more deals soon."

It's a branding opportunity too big for the owners to ignore, and one a couple of dozen baseball franchises have enjoyed for years. The fact the NFL has been slower to act than those slack-brained Seligites is indicative of its complicated relationship with all forms of gambling. Consider this: Last Thursday, as the Pats and the Redskins finalized their new lottery deals, a lawyer representing the NFL argued before Delaware's Supreme Court that the state's newly signed sports betting law should be repealed.

The NFL betting is the face of opposition to sports gambling . And as much as it would like to share that responsibility with other leagues, that's not going to happen as long as more than 40% of all money legally wagered on games is bet on football. That's why the Brewers can do a multi-million dollar deal with a local casino, or the Celtics can make their own pact with the Mass lottery, and the response is, "Sweet, let's play." But when the NFL does it the stakes are higher, and everyone from NPR's Frank Deford to the Associated Press to the guys blogging at Deadspin will line up to play gotcha.

So I asked Aiello, who surely knew there'd be piling on, how the league can rail against being bait for sports bettors, then allow its franchises to be just that for lotteries, the most insidious and addictive form of gambling around. He emailed me this response: "We are not moral crusaders. NFL personnel are permitted to engage in legal forms of gambling, except for betting on NFL games. We are making a distinction here between the spread of gambling on the outcome of our games and supporting state lottery scratch-off games, that have nothing to do with the outcome of our games."

Here's where I should rip him. But, the thing is, he's right. Not to get Obama on you, but this is a complicated, nuanced issue. As much as lotteries are considered a tax on the poor, the NFL isn't a socially obligated government program -- it's just a business. Scratch-off's help the bottom line, sports betting doesn't. Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors … But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal.

Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.

Seriously.

The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.

The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.

Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."

The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.

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