Phillies Willing to Spend $50 Million to Exile Ryan Howard

Dafuq?

It came three years too late, but it seems as if some form of common sense has crept into the brain of Ruben Amaro Jr. As of an hour ago according to Aaron Gleeman at Hardball Talk, the Phillies are reportedly willing to eat up to and including $50 million of Ryan Howard's enormous (read, incredibly stupid) contract that runs through the end of next season. There is an option on his contract for the 2017 season, but let's not kid ourselves into believing that that will actually get picked up by, well, anyone. If the Phillies really do go ahead and swallow the $50 million remaining on Howard's deal, that leaves basically the $10 million buyout for 2017 for some team to give Howard before he walks away and disappears into the woods somewhere.

Ryan Howard Breaks Toe While On Deck

Who killed Ryan Howard's 2012 season? If you had Ryan Howard in the on deck circle with a lead pipe, you win Philadelphia Sports Clue. Howard broke his toe Friday night after dropping the lead pipe he warms up with on his foot. Sounds like something out of the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics except self-inflicted.

Howard is hitting .219/.295/.423 with 14 home runs this year earning him the Vernon Wells nod of approval. The 2012 season didn't get started until July 6 because of the torn Achilles he suffered falling out of the batter's box to end his 2011 campaign. If the Phillies were wise, they'd bubble wrap the dugout next year as Howard's injuries are happening closer and closer to the clubhouse.

Then there's that wonderful five year, $125 million albatross of a contract extension Howard signed. Howard makes $20MM this year and next before going to $25MM in 2014 through 2016 with a $10MM buyout for 2017. That will be the quickest buyout in MLB history. It's probably already been made. Want a fun fact? Howard made $232,558.14 every time he got on base in 2012.

Now please enjoy my favorite quotes from this Philly.com article...

"It was a learning process," Howard said.

What was the No. 1 lesson?

"Don't get hurt."

snip

Howard finished with career lows in batting average (.219), on-base percentage (.295) and slugging percentage (.423).

"I know I'm a better hitter than that," Howard said.

"His best years are ahead of him," Charlie Manuel said.

By "his best years are ahead of him," Charlie Manual means when Howard retires to a tropical island where he isn't required to do anything athletic.

Baseball-Reference claims Ryan Howard's nickname is Big Piece. More like Broken Pieces, amirite? I'll show myself out.

Ryan Howard: I Could Grandslam All Day

Remember life without Youtube? Yeah, neither do I. Thanks to Twitter, I can't remember what happened 35 seconds ago. So I shouldn't be that surprised this cartoon conversation between Ryan Howard and Chase Utley has been online for three weeks without me noticing it until now. Although I do worry my Chase Utley stalking skills might be past their peak. Anyway, the video is awesome.



Immediately I wondered why Ryan Howard is talking about stolen bases unless he really savored each of his 12 career steals. Then I had to remind myself that it's a cartoon and I need to get outside more.

H/T: C.J. Wilson

Ryan Howard Has Another Golden Sombrero

A golden sombrero is awarded to a player who manages to strike out four times in a single game (real golden sombrero not included). It's quite the feat unless you're Ryan Howard or Mark Reynolds. Unfortunately, no-hitters and Brian Wilson's beard are all the rage nowadays. Not for me, though. I will pour over the box scores to bring you the finest at swinging and missing.

Death, taxes and Ryan Howard Golden Sombreros. I've managed to avoid two of those so far. But Howard just can't seem to stop racking up strikeouts once he steps into the batter's box. Howard apparently enjoyed wearing the giant hat so much on Thursday that he just had to sport it again. I try to do something special for every Howard four strike out gem, so here's a picture of B.A. Baracus wearing a sombrero.

Just after that photo was taken, Face chloroformed him to sleep so the A-Team could fly him to Arkansas to help a mom and pop restaurant battle a surprisingly well armed landlord. But about Howard...

Top 2nd: Howard struck out looking against Tim Stauffer. He apparently broke ESPN.com at the same time and I couldn't find another pitch-by-pitch account of the game. Okay, I didn't try, you got me. So I just assume Howard watched three pitches and then his batting helmet spun around on his head.

Top 4th: Howard struck out swinging against Stauffer. Foul, foul, swinging strike. Damn, I love Howard.

Top 6th: Howard struck out swinging against Stauffer again. He did manage to get to a full count before striking out. So this at bat wasn't as much fun.

Top 9th: Howard struck out swinging against Heath Bell. I like that he didn't need the extra innings for the sombrero. That's a classy move.

Top 11th: Howard hits the go ahead two-run double that put the Phills up for good. He even got to be the hero.

Ryan Howard's Golden Sombrero

A golden sombrero is awarded to a player who manages to strike out four times in a single game (real golden sombrero not included). It's quite the feat unless you're Ryan Howard or Mark Reynolds. Unfortunately, no-hitters and Brian Wilson's beard are all the rage nowadays. Not for me, though. I will pour over the box scores to bring you the finest at swinging and missing.

This Ryan Howard sombrero has me bummed out for two reasons. 1) I meant to place a wager with my fellow strikeout junkie Mike from The Golden Sombrero about whether Howard or Mark Reynolds would reach four K's in one game first. 2) Howard was so close to the 5K platinum sombrero. Come on!

Usually when either Howard or Reynolds records a sombrero, I reward my dear readers with a picture of a dog or mule wearing a sombrero but I'm too angry this time. So here's a cat in a hat...

Now let's all move along to Howard's futility at the dish...

Top 1st: Howard struck out swinging against Mat Latos. I think we're all on the same page here, right? Latos' parents had to be some kind of hippies to leave that other "T" off of his name. It really drives me crazy. Ugh, I hope Howard doesn't strike out against him again...

Top 3rd: Howard struck out swinging against Latos again. Son of a...

Top 4th: Howard struck out looking against Latos. Now he's just effing with me.

Top 7th: Howard struck out swinging against Cory Luebke. On three pitches.

Then, with no concern for my own jubilance, Howard grounded out in the top of the 9th.

This isn't over, Ryan...

J-Roll Has A Stake In Justin Bieber

Jimmy Rollins doesn't want to be just another former baseball player after he retires. He has big plans involving the music industry. Now, I couldn't name a Justin Bieber song but he seems like a safe bet since that kid is always trending on Twitter and Tom Brady apparently stole his haircut. Rollins has tried to develop his own music stars but let's just say he isn't quite P-Diddy yet so he turned his attention to buying in on established artists. And I'm using "artist" in the loosest sense with Bieber. Here's the deal...

Rollins owns 5 percent of the publishing rights to Justin Bieber's "Eenie Meenie," a hit duet with Jamaican chubster Sean Kingston. The song appears on Bieber's platinum album, "My World 2.0."

*snip*

Rollins indicated that his investment in Bieber's song cost him about $20,000. Rollins' attorney, Christopher Cabott, who also teaches entertainment and sports law at Temple, yesterday presented to the assemblage a formula that, for that 5 percent stake, recoups about $10,000 per million units sold.

I guess the $20,000 investment in Bieber isn't a bad move for a guy who bought a $350,000 Bentley with his 2008 World Series check. Instead of me alienating my 13-year-old girl fan base by filling the rest of this post with Bieber jokes, I decided to focus on my other problem with the Phillies short stop. And if you read me at all, you should know where I'm going with this.

I'm still upset about the 2007 NL MVP results. That voting was worse than a grown man buying a single ticket to a Justin Bieber concert. Let's just move right past the fact that Albert Pujols should have won with his .327/.429/.568 line instead of finishing NINTH, and focus on the Phillies. Rollins hit 30 home runs and a .296/.344/.531 line for a good .378 wOBA. Sure, maybe he deserved some MVP votes but he wasn't the most valuable player on his own team let alone in the league.

Ryan Howard finished fifth thanks to 47 homers even though he struck out 37.6% of the time. But the real crime here was that Chase Utley finished eighth in the voting despite finishing both third in WAR (7.7) and wOBA (.420) while playing Gold Glove defense at second (which he didn't win either).

It boggles my mind how Utley doesn't get more MVP love. He's been one of the top five players in the National League for the past five years. He's clearly the Phillies best positional player but still can't beat out Howard in MVP voting. It makes me sad. And whether you agree with me or not, you have to be impressed that I managed to turn a Justin Bieber post into a Chase Utley love fest.

At least Utley finally got to be on It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia.

Chase Utley And "It's Always Sunny" Together At Last

If you're a fan of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia and this blog, you probably know that Mac and I share some special feelings for Phillies' second baseman Chase Utley. While Mac actually writes love letters to Chase, I tend to simply dedicate 500 words here and there on why he deserves more MVP love than he gets. I mean, come on. The highest he's ever finished was 7th in the MVP voting even though he's been the second best player in the NL since 2006 and the best second baseman in all of baseball over that time. The poor man can't even win an effing Gold Glove.

Okay, sorry. This isn't the space for that rant. In last night's It's Always Sunny episode "The Gang Gets Stranded In The Woods," Chase Utley makes a cameo appearance along with former MVP Ryan Howard (who also received a second place MVP vote this year despite not be as valuable as Utley; anger rising). The gist of this episode is that the gang is headed to Atlantic City for an animal adoption fundraiser which will be attended by the two Phillies stars. Of course, hijinx ensues.

Here's the clip of Utley and Howard watching Dennis and Charlie get hammered...



That clip might not last long seeing as how I don't have the expressed written consent of MLB or FX. Either way, it was pretty funny even if Utley and Howard played it pretty safe. I'm still waiting for the episode that features Utley, Mac and myself getting wasted and talking about on base percentage and Ultimate Zone Rating. *fingers crossed*

Ryan Zimmerman Gets Chase Utley'd

The BBWAA released the outcome of the voting for the National League MVP earlier today and Joey Votto ran away with the award. Votto grabbed 31 of the 32 first place votes while Albert Pujols vultured the remaining top vote to prevent the sweep. Both hard slugging first basemen were deserving of the award so it's not worth dissecting how close the two really were despite the wide margin of victory. Besides, Rob Neyer already did that.

Instead, I'll use this space to complain about Ryan Zimmerman's 16th place finish. I may have written a few words in the past about the lack of MVP support that Chase Utley has received over his career. I mean, Utley has been the second best player in the NL since, roughly, 2005 but the highest he's ever finished in MVP voting is 7th. Hell, Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard have even won MVPs when Utley was a more worthy candidate. I could go on but there's some pretty ominous wording in this restraining order. (Can't resist; Utley finished with the 14th best fWAR and received zero MVP votes this season) Okay, on to Zimmerman and his Utley treatment.

I had Zimmerman third on my BBA ballot which might have been a tad high in retrospect but I wouldn't have had him lower than 5th-ish. How could I be so far off from the people who get paid to write about baseball? What do they know that I'm missing? Let's go to a little Twitter conversation with Fox Sports' own miniature baseball insider Ken Rosenthal.



First I'd like to take a moment to reflect on how polite I was. I was surprisingly calm for something I so vehemently disagree with. Contending team? That's it? Really? Strap on the nerd boots and let's go to the stats...

Ryan Zimmerman
142 G, 25 HR, .307 AVG, .388 OBP, .510 SLG, 13.9 UZR, 7.2 fWAR (Fangraph's WAR)

Scott Rolen
132 G, 20 HR, .285 AVG, .358 OBP, .497 SLG, 10.6 UZR, 5.0 fWAR

In Rosenthal's eyes, playing for a contending team negates the fact that Zimmerman was worth TWO more wins than Rolen. That is a significant gap even with the 10 extra games Zimmerman played. Rolen only finished two spots and eight points ahead of Zimmerman in the final tally but it still hurts my brain.

I might put more stock in WAR than I should but Fangraphs loved Zimmerman this season. His 7.2 WAR was only one tenth of a point behind Albert Pujols and two tenths behind Joey Votto. That would make him the third most valuable in the National League for the 2010 season. Yet, like Chase Utley before him, he was almost ignored in MVP voting. Why?

Much of Zimmerman's value is tied to his brilliant defense at third base. While there aren't any perfect metrics for defense, the nerds in basements have been making big strides in understanding defense and it's value. But, I guess it's still easier for the mainstream media to give votes to a terrible fielding first baseman who hits 31 home runs and strikes out over 150 times (Ryan Howard received a 2nd and 3rd place vote).

Still, 16th place is absurd. And so begins my crusade to get Ryan Zimmerman more MVP respect. Don't hold your breath, Ryan, it didn't help Chase any.

More fun with the NL MVP results
*Troy Tulowitzki finished 5th; five voters left him off of their ballots.
*Martin Prado finished 9th because why not.
*Brian Wilson finished well ahead of Adam Wainwright, Ubaldo Jimenez and Josh Johnson.
*Jimenez received one fourth place vote and that's it.
*Carlos Ruiz (Chooch!) finished ahead of Brian McCann.
*Buster Posey finished 11th including one third place vote. Not a bad year.

Ryan Howard's Golden Sombrero, Again

A golden sombrero is awarded to a player who manages to strike out four times in a single game (real golden sombrero not included). It's quite the feat unless you're Ryan Howard or Mark Reynolds. Unfortunately, cycles and no-hitters are all the rage nowadays. Not for me, though. I will pour over the box scores to bring you the finest at swinging and missing.

Any time you give Ryan Howard extra innings, you give me the opportunity to hand out a Golden Sombrero. While Howard is having a disappointing season, for me, at the dish with only 123 strikeouts (good for 10th), he did miss some time on the DL and should be able to rebound to finish in the top 5 in strikeouts in the NL. But if Howard gets and extra inning or two, he's almost a lock for the big Mexican hat. And that's exactly what the Padres gave him yesterday, resulting in a 1-5, 4 strikeout appearance. At the end of the season, we'll crown our first Off Base Golden Sombrero champion and I have faith that Howard will be in the mix with Mark Reynolds and Jason Heyward. Reynolds is the leader in the clubhouse with 4 and has the uncanny ability to put 2 up a week down the stretch. He wants it more.

Let's take a peek at Howard's at bats yesterday to see where everything went wrong...

Top 1st: Howard struck out looking against Mat Latos. Latos appears to be a stud in the making but Howard didn't even take the bat off of his shoulder for the 3 pitches.

Top 3rd: Howard struck out looking against Latos again. He watched one ball just for good measure.

Top 6th: Howard struck out swinging against Latos.

Top 12th: Howard struck out looking against somebody named Ernesto Frieri.

Ryan Howard's Platinum Sombrero

A golden sombrero is awarded to a player who manages to strike out four times in a single game (real golden sombrero not included). It's quite the feat unless you're Ryan Howard or Mark Reynolds. Unfortunately, cycles and no-hitters are all the rage nowadays. Not for me, though. I will pour over the box scores to bring you the finest at swinging and missing.

I went on a little strikeout vacation and missed 6 Golden Sombreros between August 11-16 and for that, I apologize. With everybody striking out at a ridiculous pace, I ran out of pinata blooper videos and tequila jokes. But if there was anything to snap me out of my funk, it was Ryan Howard's performance last night.

Howard snagged the Olympic Rings in a mind blowing 0-7, 5-strikeout day at the plate. His check swing punchout in the 14th inning drew his ire prompting some helmet tossing and wild gesturing. Which of course led to his ejection. Then Raul Ibanez replaced the swing and miss prone slugger at first base and Roy Oswalt made his left field debut.

The real shame in this is that Howard had 7 plate appearances and was robbed of a potential 8th. I could be writing Howard's Horn or Titanium Sombrero right now. While I try to remain positive that Ryan Howard or Mark Reynolds have a 6 strikeout game in them somewhere, let's take a look at Howards' day of futility...

Bottom 1st: Howard struck out looking against Bud Norris. Howard wasted no time but neither did Chase Utley who struck out swinging right before Howard. Did the Phillies rush their meat of the order back from the DL too soon? I can see this kind of slump for Howard but not Chase! I refuse to believe he's healthy.

Bottom 6th: Howard struck out swinging against Norris. Howard mixed in a fly out in the 3rd to keep things interesting.

Bottom 8th: Howard struck out swinging against Gustavo Chacin.

Bottom 10th: Howard struck out swinging against Fernando Abad. Howard is an equal opportunity swinger and misser, he doesn't care if I've heard of the pitcher or not.

Bottom 14th: Howard struck out swinging against Mark Melancon. This was the infamous check swing call that went against Howard causing him to go a wee bit crazy all over third base umpire Scott Barry. He threw his bat and helmet and charge after Barry flashing what I thought were gang signs. But I came to my senses and remembered this isn't the NBA.

Not a good night for Ryan Howard but I had a blast. Sure, I was denied a Titanium Sombrero by a fly out, foul out and overzealous umpire but this certainly rejuvenated my appreciation for a hitter sucking as bad as possible at the plate. Thank you, Ryan Howard.

Weekly Cup Of Joe

I prefer to think of this as more of a tribute to Fire Joe Morgan than a blatant ripoff. But who are we really kidding here?

I keep forgetting to check in with Joe Morgan on Tuesdays. This World Cup fever is really getting to me. I might have to go to the free clinic. I gave my grandpa a yellow card the other day for taking too long at the refrigerator. Usually, I like to just grab a nugget of wisdom from every Joe Chat over at the Four Letter but today's Weekly Cup of Joe is going to be a grande. Let's get going kids...

Brian (New York)

Joe, has Robinson Cano finally reached his potential or is there more to come?

Joe Morgan (11:04 AM)

I don't know if there is more to come, but he's a great player, and you can't always measure a great player by numbers, so I don't know what you mean by "potential". To ask, is there more to come? I don't know.

I love how Joe's standard reply has become, "To answer your question, I don't know." That's the hard hitting analysis I deliver here for free. Somebody needs to start sending me money. I could have sworn I copyrighted that. And I thought all we did was measure great players by their numbers. Why do you think people spent so much time on WAR or wOBA? Why do you hate metrics SO MUCH? Then this happened...

Joseph (St. Louis)

Who's will be the NL Central Champs?

Congrats Joseph in St. Louis, you failed English. After I wiped the blood from my eyes, I moved on to this question...

Tito (Brooklyn)

Joe, with the emergence of Joey Votto and Adrian Gonzalez, is Ryan Howard now only the 4th best hitting first baseman in the NL?

Joe Morgan (11:25 AM)

Are you kidding? Ryan Howard's the only guy besides Pujols that does what a first baseman is supposed to do -- he hits home runs, drives in runs, and leads his team to the World Series. Everyone took a shot at his contract -- he's been Rookie of the Year, MVP, and led his team to a World Championship and two consecutive World Series appearances. Has anybody done that other than Pujols? None of those guys have done that. I wonder why no one questions Matt Holliday's similar contract -- he's never won an MVP award or won a World Series. His numbers were put up in Colorado, where everyone puts up big hitting numbers. He's the second-best first baseman in the league, not fourth-best.

Uhh, *head explodes* Yeah, Howard jacks home runs and has a surprisingly high OBP for the amount of strikeouts he accrues. He's a three-true-outcome player. He's Adam Dunn in a better lineup. Just, let's just look at the last three years of OPS+. Does that sound reasonable?

Howard: 2010 - 124 OPS+, 2009 - 140 OPS+, 2008 - 124 OPS+

Gonzalez: 2010 - 173 OPS+ (best in the NL), 2009 - 166 OPS+, 2008 - 139 OPS+

Votto: 2010 - 154 OPS+, 2009 - 155 OPS+, 2008 - 125 OPS+

Recap: Joey Votto and Adrian Gonzalez have been better hitters than Ryan Howard over the past three years.