Sportsbooks betting had the Atlanta Braves agreeing with starting pitcher Tim Hudson on a three-year $28 million deal on Thursday. The Braves are not considered front runners in the National League at sportsbooks but they sure do have some pitching talent.
Sportsbooks betting had Hudson looking at a $12 million option but he instead decided to go for a three-year deal. The new deal for Hudson has him getting $9 million in each of the next three seasons and the Braves also have a $9 million option for 2013. Hudson also gets a half million dollar bonus if he pitches over 600 innings in the next three seasons.
Hudson is happy to be returning to the Braves. “I did all I could do to get healthy and show them they could have confidence in me,” said Hudson, “They came to me with an opening offer than was more than fair. They showed me they really wanted to get something done, as did I.”
Atlanta has a starting rotation that can impact sportsbooks betting next season. If Hudson is fully healthy and back to his top notch self, the Braves can be a team to watch in sportsbooks odds. Along with Hudson the Braves have Javier Vasquez, Jair Jurrjens, Derek Lowe, Tommy Hanson and Kenshin Kawakami who can impact the odds at sportsbooks. The two studs on the staff as sportsbooks betting stats show are Jurrjens who was 14-10 with a 2.60 ERA while Hanson was 11-4 with a 2.89 ERA. Vazquez had a nice year as well as sportsbooks stats showed, going 15-10 with a 2.87 ERA. He could be trade bait for the Braves since he is going into the last year of his contract. Lowe and Kawakami are in the middle of their deals. “We felt like the strength of our ballclub was the starting rotation, and we wanted to continue to have that as our strength,” general manager Frank Wren said. “Now we have the ability to go out and continue to mold our ballclub. Quite frankly, I don’t know what it’s going to look like on opening day, but it’s starting to take form. This is the first step.”
Last sportsbooks betting season the Braves ranked third in the NL with a 3.57 ERA. The key for the Braves to improving in sportsbooks betting is improving their offense. The Braves need some offensive pop to go along with center fielder Nate McLouth. Getting Hudson signed was just the first step for the Braves this sportsbooks betting baseball offseason.