Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Ryan Howard deal

I know there has been some criticism of the Phils for signing 1st Baseman Ryan Howard to a 5 year 125 million dollar extension. The thinking goes that in the final years of the deal in 2015 & 2016 the club will be grossly overpaying for a lumbering strikeout prone 1st baseman. History says the experts are right but frankly Howard is a guy who has worked to get better every year. After last season the team asked him to lose weight...he did...they asked him to work on improving his defense...he did...they asked him to work on cutting down in strikeouts--that is a work in progress.

Howard has been the cog in the Phillies great run the last few years. He has not missed an extended period of time during his entire career. It is hard to argue with 45 homers a year and nearly 140 RBI's for Howard in the first 5 full seasons in Philadelphia. I think it would be insane of the Phils to resign Howard in 2016-17 to the tune of $25 million but this move was prudent and at the end of the deal will be worth the investment.

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