Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting
05/13/2010 -
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -Miguel Angel Sano wasn't just a prized Dominican prospect to the Minnesota Twins.
Plenty of teams were in hot pursuit of the 16-year-old shortstop last fall, including heavy hitters on the international market like the New York Yankees and Seattle Mariners.
For years, the Twins had taken a back seat to teams more established, and with more money to spend, in the free-for-all that is the international scouting game.
``I think for a while we were a last resort,'' Twins assistant general manager Rob Antony said. ``If guys didn't get signed by the other teams, they'd come see us.''
So when the Twins surprised the baseball world by luring Sano with a whopping $3.15 million signing bonus in September, it was the culmination of a 15-year struggle to gain credibility beyond U.S. shores.
``Five years ago we would not have been able to sign Sano,'' said Mike Radcliff, who oversees the Twins international scouting as vice president of player personnel. ``That was a major investment there.
``We think we got a future good player. But it's already had many side benefits as well. It increased our presence greatly and put us on the map for a lot of players and (representatives) that didn't give us the time of day before that.''
Now the Minnesota farm system is a hot dish of players from all over the globe - Germany, Australia, Netherlands, Brazil and even the Czech Republic - as the Twins search far and wide for talent.
When Terry Ryan took over as general manager in 1995, he made bolstering Minnesota's international operations a top priority. Teams like the Dodgers, Yankees, Braves and Mariners were cleaning up while the Twins languished with substandard resources.
The Twins have been lauded for years for their scouting and development, but the vast majority of those players grew up in North America and were obtained through the draft, including this year's core of Joe Mauer (Minnesota), Justin Morneau (Canada), Jason Kubel (California), Michael Cuddyer (Virginia) and Denard Span (Florida).
``The Dominican was where we weren't being productive and we were spinning our wheels,'' Radcliff said.
The Twins started by targeting two baseball-crazy nations, setting up an academy in Venezuela and steadily establishing a facility in the talent-rich Dominican Republic.
``In 15 years, we've gone from no facilities to poor facilities and now to facilities in both countries that we're very proud of,'' current GM Bill Smith said.
They hired Fred Guerrero in the Dominican and Jose Marzan to oversee all of Latin America, and made Jose Leon the coordinator of scouting for Venezuela, where their academy has a staff of 14 and a clubhouse that opened in 2000.
In 2004, the Twins relocated to Boca Chica in the Dominican Republic, joining a complex with the Reds, Cubs and Diamondbacks in a much-needed upgrade.
``We went from bad to worse to bad again,'' Radcliff said. ``And now we've got as good a facilities as anybody else down there.''
They didn't stop there. Many teams have supplemented the talent they land in Latin America by going to the Pacific Rim, where baseball is extremely popular. The Dodgers landed Hideo Nomo, the Yankees got Hideki Matsui and the Mariners brought Ichiro Suzuki to the United States.
The Twins, meanwhile, have extended their scouting reach to new frontiers - Europe and Australia. Trusted scout Howie Norsetter, based in Australia, has the team ahead of the curve in areas where baseball is low on the sports hierarchy.
They went to the homeland of Bert Blyleven, the former Twins star whose big curveball helped the team win its first World Series in 1987, to sign Dutch pitchers Alexander Smit, who now is in Cincinnati's system, and Loek Van Mil, at 7-foot-1 the tallest pitcher in baseball.
They also plucked infielder Luke Hughes from Australia, outfielder Matej Hejma from the Czech Republic and signed Max Kepler, a 16-year-old German outfielder who was perhaps the most coveted prospect in Europe last year.
``In Latin America, everybody's down there,'' Radcliff said. ``In Europe, only a select few teams are involved.''
For now.
With owner Jim Pohlad's blessing, they spent $775,000 on Kepler and another $750,000 on Dominican shortstop Jorge Polanco. That's big money for any team, let alone an organization that had a reputation as one of the most frugal in baseball.
``We moved cautiously into this,'' Smith said. ``We didn't just jump in and start throwing money around. We built the foundation first. We got facilities and we got staff.''
The investment, hard work and rebuilding is now starting to pay off for the Twins, who led the AL Central going into the weekend.
Before getting injured, Venezuelan lefty Jose Mijares was a valued member of the bullpen. Catcher Wilson Ramos, another Venezuelan, was called up to fill in for Mauer earlier this season and went 7 for 9 in his first two games. Hughes homered in his first big-league at-bat in April.
``They helped me a lot,'' said Ramos, who also drew interest from the Yankees, Cubs, Red Sox and Orioles. ``Before I signed with Twins, I never hit. After I signed with Twins, they worked with me at the bat. They teach me a lot about how to hit.''
To hear the Twins tell it, this is only the beginning. Their days of penny-pinching and missing out on upper-echelon prospects because of a lack of resources are over.
``We want to be a threat to get some of the best players in the world every year,'' Smith said. ``We're not going to get all the best ones every year, but we want to be a threat to get those players.''Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
<< Columbus signs French midfielder Griffit
Columbus, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Columbus Crew signed French midfielder
Leandre Griffit, who played in the English Premier League with Southampton, on
Thursday.
Griffit last played with Union Royale Sportive du Centre of the Belgian
<< Guerrero's hit lifts Rangers past A's in 12th inning
Arlington, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Vladimir Guerrero drove in Michael Young in
the bottom of the 12th inning, lifting the Texas Rangers to a 2-1 win over the
Oakland Athletics in the rubber match of a three-game series.
Elvis Andrus finishe
<< Latos' one-hitter leads Padres to sweep of Giants
San Francisco, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mat Latos threw a one-hitter and drove in
the game's only run, nearly single-handedly lifting the San Diego Padres to a
1-0 victory over the San Francisco Giants.
Latos (3-3) didn't walk a batter and
<< Portsmouth's Dindane set to leave England
Portsmouth, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Aruna Dindane looks set to disappoint
both Blackburn Rovers and Wolves after claiming he will join Panathinaikos.
Dindane, who has been on loan at Portsmouth from French club Lens this season,
had he
Warriors' Azubuike has successful knee surgery >>
Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Golden State Warriors swingman Kelenna Azubuike
underwent successful arthroscopic knee surgery on Wednesday.
The procedure addressed patella tendonitis in his right knee. Azubuike will
begin rehabilitation i
Longhorns' Ward, Williams granted medical waivers >>
Austin, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Texas Longhorns guard Varez Ward and forward
Shawn Williams have each been granted a medical hardship waiver by the Big 12
Conference for the 2009-10 season.
As a result, Ward will be a redshirt sophomore
Hillman dismissed as Royals manager; Greinke gets first win >>
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alberto Callaspo hit a three-run homer and
Zack Greinke threw six effective innings to pick up his first win of the
season, as the Kansas City Royals snapped a seven-game losing streak with a
6-4 vi
Both conference finals to start Sunday >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The National Hockey League announced that both
the Eastern and Western Conference finals will begin on Sunday.
In the West, the top-seeded San Jose Sharks will host the Chicago Blackhawks
in Game 1 at 3 p.m.
Michael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football.
As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL.
The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago.
Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996).
But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side.
Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show.
Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East:
Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1
Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2
New York Giants - 9 - 2
Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1).
Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship.
So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume.
And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top.
They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy.
Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday.
But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division.
Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS.
Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS.
Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162.
Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense?
Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS.
In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS.
Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division.
Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do.
The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20.
The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550.
Visit MySportsbook.com for free sportsbook odds RSS feeds go to MySportsbook.com for all your betting football needs.
(This is an update of a sportsbook for the May 4th issue of ESPN The Magazine).
The Kentucky Derby's post-position draw happened on Wednesday. And, as is always the case, shortly afterwards, a buzz raced around Churchill Downs. It was a low rumble at first, nothing that the squares in the mint julep crowd pick up right away. But by the time the sun set over the twin spires, the chatter was impossible to ignore. Everyone -- sharps, trainers, owners -- was talking about one thing: the wise guy horse, the pre-draw long shot us mopes didn't have on our radar until it was too late.
"You think you're hearing the scoop," says handicapper Lane Gold. "Then you get to the window, the odds are short, and you missed it."
Recognizing a wise-guy horse early is as hard as picking a Derby bonnet. That's because handicappers don't like hype (see ya, I Want Revenge). They want Thoroughbreds who look good losing prep races like the Santa Anita Derby. They eye horses who ate up the field after starting wide or made an easy transition from synthetic tracks to dirt. They look for ponies who showed muscle gain race to race and those who ran hard after several weeks' rest.
"A wise guy," says John Avello, a bookmaker at Wynn Las Vegas, "looks for a horse who can improve."
When I first wrote Horse Betting for The Mag, which I turned in a three weeks before Wednesday's draw, I predicted these three horses had wise guy potential:
CHOCOLATE CANDY (15-1 in mid-April, currently 20-1 according to Avello): His second-place finish at Santa Anita, following a seven-week layoff, proved two things: He can run after resting, and -- by losing a high-profile prep race -- he wouldn't be overhyped.
DESERT PARTY (15-1; 15-1): He was upset in the UAE Derby by a horse he had beaten twice. The public remembers his loss, but the wise guys his wins.
PIONEEROF THE NILE (8-1; 4-1): The big favorite at Santa Anita struggled to win, so he initially got less hype than Quality Road and I Want Revenge.
You may have noticed that the odds on Pioneerof the Nile have been cut in half, from 8-1 to 4-1. Which means the wise guys took a shine to him long before the post-position draw. But, to be honest, this is one of those years with four elite horses getting everyone's attention, squares and sharps alike.
"You're not gonna get a lot of chatter about a horse that isn't in that group, which includes Pioneer, I Want Revenge, Dunkirk and Friesan Fire," Avello told me Wednesday. "We don't have a group of horses behind those top four who look like real legit contenders."
Come Derby week, the final two elements in picking a wise guy horse are how he's working out and what gate he's coming out of.
(By the way, picking a Preakness favorite is a whole different bale of hay, partially based on how horses finish in the Derby. You can see my analysis of who has the best shot at Pimlico on Insider Sunday morning.)
Well, early in the week I Want Revenge, Pioneerof the Nile and Friesan Fire were working out better than anyone. Some thought Friesan Fire, currently 6-1, might have run too fast, burning a five-furlong run in :57 4/5. "When you are running that fast you have the sense that it took something out of him," says Gold. "The Derby is longer than any horse has run, and if they need that extra surge you worry they won't have it because they burned it in the workout."
But, Gold points out, Friesan Fire's trainer is Larry Jones, Two years ago his horse Hard Spun did a five-eighths workout in :57 3/5 and then went on to finish second, behind Street Sense, in the Derby. "Every trainer has different methods," says Gold. "And clearly he knows what he's doing."
Now, as for starting position, Gold says to remember this: Churchill Downs traditionally has 14 starting gates. For the Derby, it brings out auxiliary gates and between the original 14th gate and the new 15th gate, there is a little more space than there is between gates 1-14. "That 15 position will give you a precious second or two to sort out what's happening to your inside," says Gold. "Sixteen is also okay because you can follow the horse in front of you."
Dunkirk, one of the race favorites, is coming out of gate 15. In 16 is Baffert's Pioneerof the Nile. I Want Revenge drew 13, where Smarty Jones won from in 2004, and Friesan Fire picked the sixth position. "He doesn't have a lot of speed to the inside of him," says Gold. "So he will get a clear shot to be near the front."
All the jibber-jabber means this: Pioneerof the Nile has leapfrogged from 8-1 to being the second favorite, along with Dunkirk, behind I Want Revenge. Meanwhile, Friesan Fire, with a good trainer, a strong week of training and a decent post position, is still at 6-1. "By Saturday, it's possible he could go from fourth to the favorite," says Gold.
In other words, meet Friesan Fire, your 2009 wise guy horse.
"Now," says Avello, "it's time for action."
To visit this horse betting site go to MySportsbook.com for all your horse racing betting needs.
Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting