IPLFansite

MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee Brewers have gotten used to calling Yovani Gallardo their ace. Now he’s got a contract that keeps him in the fold with plenty of time to prove it.

Gallardo agreed Thursday to a $30.1 million, five-year deal that could be worth $42.5 million over six seasons. The agreement covers the right-hander’s arbitration-eligible years and the first season after he would have become a free agent.

“It hasn’t really settled into me yet because I’m just that type of guy, I kind of try not to show too much emotion,” the 24-year-old Gallardo said. “But it’s great.”

Gallardo was Milwaukee’s opening day starter on Monday and took the loss. But in many ways, he’s long been the leader of the pitching staff by the example he sets.

“Having what we consider an ace of a staff, a No. 1 guy, tied up, it’s going to make the offseason (easier),” general manager Doug Melvin said. “In the offseason, you’re always trying to fill holes. With good health, this is one hole we don’t have to worry about for a few years.”

Gallardo receives a $1.25 million signing bonus: $500,000 payable when the contract is approved by Major League Baseball, $500,000 on July 15 and $250,000 on Nov. 15. He gets salaries of $500,000 this year, $3.25 million next season, $5.5 million in 2012, $7.75 million in 2013 and $11.25 million in 2014. Milwaukee holds a $13 million option for 2015 with a $600,000 buyout.

Gallardo could void the option if he accumulates six points under a system in which he earns five points for winning a Cy Young Award, three points for finishing second in voting and one point for finishing third.

He has a full no-trade provision through the 2012 season. After that, he can select 10 teams he cannot be dealt to without his consent.

“I think the rest of his teammates feel like when he’s out there pitching, this is going to be a ‘W,’” manager Ken Macha said. “I like what I’ve seen so far.”

Gallardo’s agreement replaced a one-year contract that Milwaukee had renewed for $450,000 last month. While sometimes renewals cause acrimony, both sides said that they were working toward a long-term deal beginning as far back as last season.

“We think it’s a huge signing for our organization to be able to have Yovani tied up for the number of years,” said assistant GM Gord Ash, who handle negotiations.

The latest long-term contract means the Brewers now have their top two starters set for the next three years including this season to go along with All-Star Ryan Braun, who is signed through 2015. The club is also talking with Prince Fielder on an extension, but Melvin has been very cautious when discussing anything about those negotiations.

“We’ve said all along we’d like to have Prince here, too, over the long haul and Prince has indicated he’d like to be here,” Melvin said. “Between those two statements, there’s a lot of negotiating going on. That’s about all I can say at this point.”

With Randy Wolf ($29.75 million, three years) and Doug Davis ($5.25 million, one year), the Brewers have committed $65.1 million since the end of last season on upgrading their starting rotation that finished with a majors-worst 5.37 ERA last year.

Gallardo was a second-round pick in 2004 with the Brewers and went 13-12 with a 3.73 ERA and 204 strikeouts in 30 starts last season. He missed all but four starts in 2008 with a torn ligament in his right knee after starting the year on the disabled list with torn cartilage in his left one.

As Gallardo pitched well last season despite his average-looking record and proved he was healthy throughout, the Brewers expanded their offer.

“It’s just a good feeling,” Gallardo said. “Any ballplayer can say once they get certain things, contract extensions, you’re able to relax a bit more, go out there, have fun and enjoy the game. And more than anything, just go out there and pitch.”

OAKLAND, Calif. – Brett Anderson pitched shutout ball into the seventh inning of a strong season debut, Daric Barton drove in a career-high four runs and the Oakland Athletics beat the Seattle Mariners 6-2 on Thursday to take three of the first four in the AL West rivalry.

Cliff Pennington and Ryan Sweeney each added RBI doubles for the A’s, off to a strong start after losing the season series to Seattle the past two years. The A’s hope they can use this start for some momentum considering last year they began 2-1 but never were above .500 the rest of the way.

Anderson (1-0), an 11-game winner during his rookie season of 2009, allowed the first two batters to reach base in the seventh and was relieved by Chad Gaudin after 97 pitches. Gaudin then got three outs on nine pitches.

Anderson allowed three hits, struck out four and walked one. Franklin Gutierrez drew that lone free pass to chase Anderson. The left-hander went winless in five spring outings and beat the Mariners this time after taking the loss in his major league debut against them last April 10.

Gaudin struck out three in 1 2-3 innings in his first appearance since rejoining the A’s following his March 25 release by the Yankees. Mike Sweeney singled in Seattle’s first run with one out in the ninth off Jerry Blevins. Reigning AL Rookie of the Year Andrew Bailey entered and allowed Matt Tuiasosopo’s RBI single before retiring pinch-hitter Casey Kotchman on a game-ending double play.

Barton hit a two-run single in the eighth after RBI singles in the fourth and sixth innings, helping the A’s win the final three games of the series after losing Monday night’s season opener 5-3.

The first three games were decided on the final at-bat. After the A’s play this weekend against the Angels in Anaheim and Seattle visits Texas, these clubs will meet up again starting Monday at Safeco Field.

A’s center fielder Rajai Davis stole a likely home run from Milton Bradley starting the second, with a leaping catch against the wall and his glove over the fence. The typically mercurial Bradley tipped his batting helmet to Davis in salute of the great play.

Three innings later, catcher Kurt Suzuki made an impressive running and sliding catch just in front of Seattle’s dugout on Jose Lopez’s foul.

Seattle starter Doug Fister (0-1), on the opening day roster for the first time after making 11 appearances last season, gave up two runs and six hits in four innings, struck out two and walked three.

Ichiro Suzuki saw the end to his 23-game hitting streak against Oakland dating to Aug. 24, 2008.

NOTES: Mariners LHP Cliff Lee is set for a 25-pitch bullpen session Friday at Texas to test his strained abdominal muscle that landed the 2008 AL Cy Young Award winner on the DL to start the season. On Wednesday, Lee threw eight pitches from flat ground and eight off the mound. “I feel perfectly fine,” Lee said. … 1B Tuiasosopo earned his first start of the season. He struck out looking leading off the third on a 13-pitch at-bat and singled in the eighth. … Speedy Seattle No. 2 hitter Chone Figgins stole his third base of the season but was caught stealing for the first time. … Only six times in all of 2009 did the A’s have a winning streak of three or more games.

CHICAGO (Reuters) – While the average Major League Baseball team is worth more than a year ago, a third of the U.S. sports league’s 30 teams saw their values fall or remain unchanged, according to an annual survey by Forbes magazine.

Overall team values increased an average of 2 percent over the past year to $491 million, according to the survey, released late on Wednesday. Last year, the average team value rose 1 percent.

The most valuable team for the 13th straight year was the New York Yankees, who are worth $1.6 billion, nearly twice as much as their rival Boston Red Sox, the second most-valuable team.

Despite a decline in 2009 attendance, teams also posted a record-high operating income at an average of $17.4 million per team, helped by two new parks in New York, the escalating value of national TV deals and only the second decline in total player costs since 1995, Forbes said.

However, Forbes said nine teams saw their values decline and two others were flat as the recession hurt several markets. The teams with the biggest declines were the Toronto Blue Jays and Oakland Athletics, each down 8 percent.

Baseball, like most U.S. sports leagues, has been hurt by the weak economy that led consumers and companies to curtail spending. League attendance fell 6.6 percent last year to 73.4 million, but revenue rose 1.5 percent to $6.7 billion as the league benefited from higher TV rights.

Baseball officials have said they expect league attendance this season will be flat to up, with a slight increase in overall revenue. However, with unemployment expected to hover around the current rate of 9.7 percent for some time, analysts think that outlook may be optimistic.

Meanwhile, the average ticket price for a baseball game this season rose 1.5 percent to $26.74, but the cost to take a family of four to a game dropped slightly to $195.08 as more teams offer cheaper concession items, according to consulting firm Team Marketing Report (TMR).

Teams seem to be sensitive to the weak economy’s impact as TMR reported 18 either cut ticket prices or kept them unchanged. The San Diego Padres (15.4 percent) and Detroit Tigers (14.2 percent) showed the biggest declines, while the Minnesota Twins, playing in a new park, saw prices surge 45 percent.

The Chicago Cubs edged out the Red Sox for the priciest average ticket, $52.56 to $52.32, while the Arizona Diamondbacks sported the lowest price at $14.31, TMR said.

On this year’s Forbes list, teams with double-digit increases in value included the Florida Marlins (15 percent), Twins (14 percent) and the Texas Rangers (11 percent).

The Yankees’ value rose 7 percent to $1.6 billion and the value of the Red Sox rose 4 percent to $870 million, the magazine said. Rounding out the top five were the New York Mets (down 6 percent to $858 million), the Los Angeles Dodgers (up 1 percent to $727 million) and the Cubs (up 4 percent to $726 million), which the Ricketts family bought last fall from the Tribune Co for $845 million.

The least valuable team was the Pittsburgh Pirates (unchanged at $289 million), according to Forbes.

Tim Lincecum hoped to avoid another hairy start. So the Giants ace with the long locks told himself this was just like any outing in June or July.

That worked, mostly.

“It wasn’t that uncontrollable hype-ed-ness where I didn’t know what was going on,” the two-time Cy Young winner said after pitching seven shutout innings Monday to beat Houston. “I kind of had an idea what was going on. Obviously, opening day can be a little overwhelming, a little bit more exciting than a usual game.”

A year after struggling in the opener, Lincecum did fine. Ditto for World Series MVP Hideki Matsui, Roy Halladay, Jason Bay, Vladimir Guerrero, Placido Polanco and other stars who made neat debuts for their new teams.

Albert Pujols launched two more home runs and President Barack Obama tossed another ball. Yet no one enjoyed the day as much as Jason Heyward.

Billed as the majors’ next phenom, the Braves prospect bridged baseball’s past and future Monday when he caught the ceremonial first pitch from Hank Aaron.

Then with the Atlanta crowd chanting his name, the 20-year-old Heyward mashed a three-run homer on his first swing in the big leagues.

“I had a blast,” the rookie said.

Mark McGwire made a more quiet return. Back in baseball after admitting he took steroids, Big Mac drew little reaction in Cincinnati when he was introduced as the new hitting coach for the St. Louis Cardinals.

In New York, there were a few boos. After seeing their club crippled by injuries last season, Mets fans heckled — of all people — the team trainers. Tough crowd!

Cubs manager Lou Piniella didn’t seem real pleased, either, when the umpires’ call went against him on a dropped fly ball. After a postseason dotted with missed calls, there are sure to be more shouts this year for extra instant replay.

Milton Bradley was a bit perturbed, too. He broke his bat into several splinters after slamming it to the ground in frustration after a strikeout. Now with Seattle, the often volatile outfielder was jeered all game in Oakland by his former fans.

A day after Boston beat the World Series champion New York Yankees in the major league opener, most every team swung into action. Reds Hall of Famer Johnny Bench and NFL Hall of Famer Roger Staubach joined in opening-day festivities.

On a huge sports day in America — the NCAA men’s basketball championship game, the Tiger Woods news conference — baseball delivered a full first serving.

For 40-year-old Ken Griffey Jr., it was time to enjoy an opener.

“They’re always special, the start of six months of baseball,” the Seattle star said.

There were 13 games on the schedule, plus a bid for history. Toronto pitcher Shaun Marcum took a no-hitter into the seventh inning at Texas before it got broken up by Guerrero.

All over, the weather held. Rather than the dreary, upper 30s temperatures that often dampen openers, it was a beautiful day to play ball. In Milwaukee, this was the earliest the Miller Park roof was open for a regular-season game in its 10-year history.

Obama drew a loud ovation when he continued a tradition that started 100 years ago with William Howard Taft — the presidential first pitch. He warmed up with some practice tosses at the White House but, really, the lefty could use a little more time in the bullpen.

Obama double-pumped, rocked on the mound a few times and made a high-and-wide flip to the plate that Washington third baseman Ryan Zimmerman snared. It probably helped that Zimmerman was coming off winning his first Gold Glove.

At least Obama, whose smooth stroke on the basketball court is well documented, put more oomph into it. Last year, he barely reached the plate at the All-Star game.

“If I had a whole inning, I’m telling you, I would have cleaned up,” he said.

A White Sox fan, Obama waited until he got to the mound to put on a Chicago cap. The play of the day — of the year, perhaps — came from Obama’s pal on the White Sox, pitcher Mark Buehrle.

Tracking down a ball that caromed off his leg into foul territory, the Gold Glove winner made a blind, between-the-legs flip with his glove to get the out at first base.

“You run over there saying, ‘Do I slide and spin, or do I grab the ball and throw it?’” Buehrle said. “I think every thought went through my head. It just happened the way it did.”