Cubs activate C Soto from DL among several moves

Baseball Betting Lines

08/23/2010 - Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Cubs activated catcher Geovany Soto from the 15-day disabled list among several roster moves on Monday.

The 27-year-old backstop was put on the DL on August 10 with a sprained right shoulder ligament. Over 88 games this season, Soto is hitting .288 with 15 homers and 45 runs batted in to go with a .401 on-base percentage.

Chicago also called up infielder Micah Hoffpauir from Triple-A Iowa on Monday. The 30-year-old will be making his second stint with the big club this year. He saw action in three games in early August and went 0-for-7 with four strikeouts.

The moves were made necessary when the Cubs optioned catcher Welington Castillo and outfielder Sam Fuld following Sunday's loss to Atlanta.

In other team news, the Cubs named Bob Dernier new first base coach and announced Ivan DeJesus will take over third base coaching duties from Mike Quade, who was promoted to interim manager following Lou Piniella's immediate retirement after Sunday's game.

Wwwlassiters Baseball Betting News

<< Wozniacki tops Zvonareva in Montreal finale
Montreal, QC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - U.S. Open runner-up Caroline Wozniacki defeated Wimbledon runner-up Vera Zvonareva to capture the title at the rain- plagued $2 million Rogers Cup event. The second-seeded Wozniacki whipped the eight

<< Woods and Nordegren officially divorced
Panama City, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tiger Woods and Elin Nordegren have divorced. They will share custody of their two children, acording to a release posted Monday on the golfer's website. Lawyers for both sides confirmed th

<< Ching's hat trick earns MLS Player of the Week award
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Houston Dynamo forward Brian Ching was voted Major League Soccer Player of the Week for Week 21 of the 2010 MLS season on Monday. Ching's hat trick led the Dynamo to a 4-3 victory over the Chicago Fire

<< Zenyatta maintains lead in thoroughbred poll
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two-time champion mare Zenyatta sits comfortably in first-place atop the latest NTRA National Thoroughbred Poll. The undefeated female has a 24 point lead over Blame. Trained by John Shirreffs,

<< U.S. women to play two matches against China
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The U.S. Women's National Soccer Team will face China twice in early October in what will be the final matches for the U.S. team before it enters CONCACAF qualifying for the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup. The

Collins signs with Bears at QB >>
LAKE FOREST, Ill. (AP) -The Chicago Bears have added a lot of experience at quarterback with one moveThe Bears have signed 38-year-old Todd Collins, who's played for Washington, Kansas City and Buffalo. He is expected to battle the injured Caleb Han

Longoria, Cano share AL weekly honors >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Evan Longoria and New York Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano were named the Co-Players of the Week for the American League for the period ending August 22. Longoria hit 11-for-

Braves' Infante earns NL weekly honors >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Atlanta Braves infielder Omar Infante was named the National League Player of the Week for the period ending August 22. Over seven games during the week, the 28-year-old batted .433, which was good for

Astros extend partnership with Double-A Corpus Christi >>
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Astros announced a four-year extension of the player development contract with the Corpus Christi Hooks, the team's Double-A affiliate. The new agreement runs through the 2016 season. "

Dementieva wins Pilot Pen opener >>
New Haven, CT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two-time Grand Slam runner-up Elena Dementieva was among Monday's opening-round winners at the $600,000 Pilot Pen Tennis event, a final hardcourt U.S. Open tune-up. The fourth-seeded Dementieva flew past

Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.