12/03/2008 - Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Seattle Mariners have signed infielder Russell Branyan to a one-year deal. Per club policy, financial terms of the deal were not released.
"Russell gives us a veteran left-handed bat with power and can be used as a first baseman, third baseman or designated hitter," said executive vice president and general manager of baseball operations Jack Zduriencik. "One of our offseason goals is to add some left-handed power to our club. The addition of Russell accomplished some of that."
Branyan appeared in 50 games -- 35 starts -- for the Milwaukee Brewers last season and batted .250 with 12 home runs and 20 RBI. He was especially useful off the bench, as he ranked fourth in batting average and was tied for second in home runs among National League pinch-hitters with at least 10 plate appearances.
For his career, Branyan is a .230 hitter with 133 home runs and 320 RBI in 766 games for the Cleveland Indians, Cincinnati Reds, Tampa Bay Rays, San Diego Padres, Philadelphia Phillies, St. Louis Cardinals and Brewers.
Branyan, who will turn 33 on December 19, has played for five different teams over the last three seasons.
<< Westbrook, Allen, Jones earn NFC weekly honors
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Philadelphia Eagles running back Brian
Westbrook, Minnesota Vikings defense end Jared Allen and Carolina Panthers
return specialist Mark Jones have been selected as the NFC's top players for
Week 13
<< Palermo goalkeeper Fontana set for January exit
Palermo, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Palermo have given veteran goalkeeper
Alberto Fontana permission to seek a move away from the club in the January
transfer window.
The 41-year-old shot-stopper has struggled to command a first-t
<< Slaton, Mathis, Leggett earn AFC weekly honors
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Houston Texans running back Steve Slaton,
Indianapolis Colts defensive end Robert Mathis and Kansas City special teamer
Maurice Leggett have been selected as the AFC's top players for Week 13 of the
NFL sea
<< Bayern keen on Hoffenheim's Ibisevic
Munich, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bayern Munich president Frank Beckenbauer
has admitted that his club may try and purchase Hoffenheim's star striker
Vedad Ibisevic in the near future.
Ahead of the meeting of the two title rivals
Sakic out at least six weeks >>
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Colorado Avalanche center Joe Sakic will miss at
least the next six weeks while receiving treatment for a herniated disc in his
back.
Sakic sustained the injury on his first shift of the November 28 game a
Coyotes acquire Lindstrom from Anaheim >>
Glendale, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Phoenix Coyotes have acquired forward
Joakim Lindstrom from the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for defenseman Logan
Stephenson.
Lindstrom, a second-round pick by the Columbus Blue Jackets, has fou
USC's Hazelton set to transfer >>
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Southern California wide receiver Vidal
Hazelton says he intends on transferring at the conclusion of this season.
A junior from New York, Hazelton entered this season as USC's number-one
returnin
Giants ink Howry to one-year deal >>
San Francisco, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Francisco Giants have signed
right-handed reliever Bob Howry to a one-year contract. Financial terms of the
deal were not released.
"We feel that Howry brings a tremendous amount of talente
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Las Vegas Sports Consultants (LVSC) is the world’s premier oddsmaking company and the most respected authority on making the lines. Mike Seba is a Senior Oddsmaker at LVSC and has been making lines for the last six years. In our extended interview, Seba explained that there are 4-5 oddsmakers assigned to make lines for each of the major sports (pro & college football and basketball; MLB, NHL, boxing, golf). Each of these oddsmakers bring unique opinions, strengths and weaknesses to the process. Oddsmakers at LVSC are professional sports junkies who love what they do and would probably do it for nothing if you asked them, but they do get paid for it. By necessity their approach is very research-oriented and concise, since with millions of dollars at risk there is little margin for error.
“You either have a passion for it or you don’t,” Seba said.
“The #1 thing for us is to make a line for each game that creates good two-way action. We do this by drawing from past experiences and applying them to current situations. People think it’s much more complicated, but it’s not. “Divided action means the sportsbook is guaranteed a profit on the game because of the fee charged to the bettor (called juice or vig – typically $11 bet to win $10).
Power ratings are the oddsmaker’s value of each team and are used as a guide to calculate a "preliminary" pointspread on an upcoming game. The power ratings are adjusted after each game a team plays. Examples of non-game factors that would require an adjustment to a team's power rating are key player injuries and player trades.
Once a game’s power rating based pointspread is determined, the oddsmaker will make adjustments to that line after considering each team's most recent games played and previous games played against that opponent. Also, adjustments are made after reading each team’s local newspapers to get a sense of what the coaches & players are thinking going into the game.Since the oddsmaker’s ultimate goal is equally dividing the sports betting action, public perception and sportsbook betting patterns must be taken into account. For example, the public might have heavy betting interest week after week on a popular college football betting team such as USC. If an oddsmaker comes up with a preliminary line of USC -7, then an adjustment up to -7.5 or -8 would be made in response to the public’s expected USC bias.
The last step in the line-making process for each oddsmaker is taking one final look to determine whether or not the line "feels right." This is where common sense and past experience with how games are bet enters into the picture.A round-table discussion among the 4-5 oddsmakers involved in making the line for each sport is then conducted and a consensus line is decided upon by the Odds Director before it is released to the sportsbooks. Of the 4-5 oddsmakers, generally the 2 most respected opinions are weighed more heavily by the Odds Director before he decides on the final line.
Experts working for the individual books having a strong opinion on the game
Individual books having players who consistently bet with certain tendencies (such as an extreme bias toward favorites or toward a certain popular team like USC)The purpose of these adjustments, like all line adjustments, is to more equally divide the betting action.
Once betting begins, sportsbooks can adjust the line at any time. In doing so they attempt to make more attractive the team that is getting less action. By moving the line, sportsbooks can influence how the public bets on a particular game.For example, if the pointspread on a game is 7 and most of the money is coming in on the underdog (taking the +7), sportsbooks will then move the number down to 6 ½ to try and attract money on the favorite.
Moving the line is the oddsmaker's effort to balance betting action, and often times such moves can have a major impact on a bettor’s decision. Oddsmakers can also change the line depending on various event-related factors such as player injuries or weather. Obviously, if the line comes out a week ahead of the event (which is the case in football), there is much that could happen during the week leading up to the event that could affect the line. Oddsmakers have to determine if any changes are necessary and send out an "adjusted line."“The main objective is that our clients get equal action on both sides,” Seba said. “We’re not trying to pick the team that covers the spread, we’re trying to make it a coin flip, a tough decision (for the bettor). If we’ve done that, we’ve done our job.”
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