We’re not being too subtle with the 3-year window, are we?
Ruben Amaro Jr. ran through the gauntlet of arbitration eligible players without the need for a single hearing, getting the final piece done today by signing Ryan Howard to a 3-year, $54 million deal that will take him through the rest of his arbitration eligible years.
I think this is a great move for the Phillies for 3 reasons…
- No drama. If you thought the fuss over this arbitration hearing was bad, next year would have been worse and the year after even more so. Contract squabbles can be distracting for both team and player, and the Phils don’t have to worry about it with Howard or Hamels. A very nice job by Amaro.
- Howard can’t out-price himself. The concern many people had was that Howard would win his arbitration hearing this year, then look for $22-$24 million next year and then $26-$28 the year after. If we were to keep him and go that route, it would have been like signing a 3 year, $62-66 million deal. This way, we know what he’s getting each season.
- Say what you will about the man’s strikeouts and defense, but Ryan Howard puts people in the seats, and there isn’t a much bigger thrill at a Phillies game than seeing him hit a long home run. Good to know we’ll have 3 more years of that.
It will be interesting to see what happens to Howard during his final year and whether or not he become trade bait. I think that after these 3 years, we are going to need to have a strong farm system ready to come in and contribute to stay competitive and trading Howard for some big-time prospects has always been part of that, in my opinion.
With the Phillies contracts pretty much locked down for the next couple seasons, I’ll write a post about what our payroll should look like during that time. Got to wait for the details of this contract to come out.
6 days till pitchers and catchers! My Phillies starting pitching preview should be out later today.
Howard will make $15 mill the first year, $19 the second, $20 the third.
It is a good for the Phillies.
He’s getting $18 million a year.. Yes that is a lot. But it buys out all 3 of his arbitration years. If he went to arbitration next year, he’d probably ask for $20 or $22 million. And because HR and RBI are the sexy thing, he’ll end up getting that money. So in a way, the 3 year deal is saving money for the Phillies.
I like Howard. Even though he strikes out a ton, he is a big part of this team.
Agreed, good deal for both sides given the circumstances. Howard likely would have earned more if he took each year to arbitration. This way, the Phils get some payroll stability and Howard gets the relief of not having to deal with a hearing each season.
Whether or not he is worth this amount of cash is another thing entirely.
This is great news. After all the “He is unlike any other player” talk coming from the Howard camp, I never thought this would happen. I hoped it would (remember after Hamels signed his deal I said it would be great if Howard looked at that and changed his mind) but it didn’t seem very likely.
It is good for both sides. Howard gets good guaranteed money for the next 3 years which protects him against a down year costing him in the arbitration process. He also isn’t giving up any of his free agent years. The Phils lock a major piece in place for their “3 year window” with this core group. They also get the “cost certainty” that Proefrock wants. This will allow them to know how much money they have left in any given year to fill other holes. Lastly, they did not commit to Howard for 6 or 8 years.
“I think that after these 3 years, we are going to need to have a strong farm system ready to come in and contribute to stay competitive”……I agree completely, Pete. Signing all of our core guys for 3 years should mean that we are pretty set at the big league level during this time. It should also cut down dramatically on our free agent signings (which means keeping our draft picks for ourselves). This will give us a good amount of time to really build up the minor league system and load up the pipeline. You are right that we are going to need it because left unsaid is what will happen at the end of our “3 year window”. There is pretty much no way we will be able to keep it all together after that.
“and trading Howard for some big-time prospects has always been part of that, in my opinion.”…..I agree with this as well, Pete. That would be the ideal scenario for me (and probably the only way we could continue to field a top flight ballclub year after year). Just because we have signed all these guys for 3 years doesn’t mean they have to stay here for the full 3 years. If we do a good job building up the farm system, I hope that we will have the undeniable talent pushing it’s way up to the big leagues that will allow us to be able to part with a Howard or a Hamels for a boatload of talent somewhere along the way, thereby perpetuating the cycle.
I would love to know what was going on behind the scenes with Howard. I strongly believe there was peer pressure for him to sign. When Hamels signed, I thought this was a statement that they are a team and want to stick together and have some fun for a few years. This is absolutely wonderful for the other teammates and the fans. I do not believe this would have happened if Hamels had not signed.
love this deal, and in three years I really think it will be obvious he is on the downside of his career, if he wants to sign again for more money it will be easy to let him go
I read that Howard is already down in Clearwater getting ready for the season, and trying to get off to a better start in April than he has in years past. always like to hear that.
As a huge fan of Ryan’s, I love that the Phils kept him somehow. Pete, bski, I really wasn’t with your trading him for Matt Cain or other starting pitchers. I understood your arguments, and the Seinfeld argument about “rooting for laundry”, but if we traded him for a starting pitcher, we would’ve lost the first and best slugger of the post-steroids era for your run-of-the-mill good pitcher, and given the choice, I would much prefer watching Howard chase all sorts of Phillies and MLB records STEROIDS-FREE. Even if NOT trading Howard for that starting pitcher costs us a championship somehow.
Having said that, I would only be flexible up to a point. For example, unless he produces numbers to back it up, I would not make him the highest paid player in the game.
Totally unrelated note: I can’t get my mind around the fact that Bud Selig made $17M last year… I mean, WHAT?!? Are any of the readers here psychologists or counselors? If I stalked him and tried to steal his wallet, then got caught, and on the way to jail I told the arresting officers how much he made last year… I mean, compared to Selig’s theft, the police couldn’t possibly… I need help, please help me… I mean, let’s say you took Selig’s resume, crossed out his name, and handed it to some sort of successful corporation and asked how much Selig should get in salary, wouldn’t you get some sort of response like, “Well, the coach of my daughter’s field hockey team is looking for a manager for one of his Wawa’s…”
Fair enough, Zack. For me, the key phrase in your opening paragraph is…“given the choice, I would much prefer”…I’m right with you.
Keeping Howard was always my first choice and my preference would have been to sign him to a deal sooner. The thing is that Howard’s choices and preferences are the only ones that really matter. All the trade talk was just a way to try and make the best out of of what appeared to be the unresolvable situation that the Phils were in with Howard, nothing more.