Your Opinion On Ryan Howard

The Ryan Howard post yesterday sparked quite a debate.  Now is your chance to see how your peers feel about his comments and contract renewal.  Click here to vote on whether you feel he was out of line.

Comments

[Chase035]

Agree or not with his right to feel frustrated, its bad business to alienate a critical portion of your fan base by doing something they perceive as a slight against their guy.

How thats something that can be disputed is beyond me...

[madavis4]

Ryan Howard needs to keep his mouth shut and play baseball. He thinks that he is underpaid now, but when he gets 10 year contract making 20M per year, he is going to be overpaid the last few years of that contract. I bet that he is not going to give any money back to the team when they are overpaying him.

[Chase035]

thats part of the problem, he'll NEVER see that kind of money. He won't be a free agent til he is 31 or 32. Do you think any team is going to give him a 10 year contract.

fundamental difference between Howard and his peers... take miguel cabrera, for example, he's 23. He won't miss out on free agency during his prime years. Howard will. This stands to affect Howard more than it has any other player in the modern era because no other player has been kept in the minors as long and then had that kind of success, MVP in his second season. He won't be a free agent until he is 31 or 32, and that is what makes this different than any of the other players being mentioned.

Giving him $1.5 million instead of $900K would have been a more profitable decision for the Phils. They wouldn't have to endure the flack that they are about to get from the black community, who is already really pissed (type in Ryan Howard, $900K onto google and you'll see what I mean). Agree with that or not, how is that good business to create that tension with your fans.

And athletes aren't all overpaid. There's been tons of literature on this. Howard is easily an example of the type of athlete who will never be overpaid. He's a marketing gem, a guy who can single-handedly appeal to the most alienated fan base in the game. This isn't a matter of my opinion, its what MLB has said repeatedly. According to Selig, the Ryan Howards and Dontrelle Willis' are instrumental to the marketing of the game.

And what people have mentioned, about Thome and playing him just cause they signed him. That's called a sunk cost. Its an example of one of the single most damaging mistakes management can make.

[Phils07]

I agree they should have bumped the 1 yr deal to at least 1.5 million. the Phils could have sent a much stronger message to the big fella.

In the end, I think Howard gets a 7 year deal before this season is over. 7 years/110 million should do it.

[beeniez]

It's Howard's fault, not the Phillies. It was his inability to learn a new position and develop at a younger age that would have allowed him to reach the major league earlier. Plus, he's not exactly struggling to keep the bills paid. He gets no sympathy from me. You're rich and you play a sport for a living. Be happy Mr. Greedypants.

[Chase035]

its all relative. The guy EARNS more than he is being paid. Maybe someone lower in the rung things YOU are rich and by asking for $50,000 you are making too much. In the end, people deserve to make what they earn, where supply hits demand.

[Slayer]

1. Howard doesn't have a proven track record in the majors. While it is likely that he will continue to be good, with only 1.5 good seasons under his belt, the Phillies can't, nor should they sign him to a long term big deal. While the extra 100k or so to push him over a million shouldn't have been that big of a deal to the Phillies, nor should it be one for Howard.

2. He was blocked by Jim Thome who was a better player than Howard at the time. If you aren't good enough to play for the team you have a contract with then you aren't good enough to have that team pay you the big bucks.

3. Fans care about winning, not about whiny superstars. While Philly might be a bit of different case (hell, the people there boo Santa), the best business decision for the Phillies is to try and put a winning team out there every year. This probably means lowballin Howard until he hits FA.

Thems the breaks kid. If Howard doesn't like it then I suggest he goes to play ball in Hong Kong.

[Ankur]

He was definitely out of line. Philadelphia wasn't obligated to give him that extra money at all. And I live not too far from Philly and all our fans here that I spoke with said "boo f'ing hoo, I'm only making 900k/year". In general I think we aren't very tolerant of whiny superstars (look at TO, and with some people, AI).

[Paul]

He is out of line, but at the same time he isn't. I completely agree that he needs to keep his mouth shut, but at the same time, if I were in his position, I'd be pissed too. The same team that stunted his growth thanks to the Jim Thome situation just offered the MVP of the league 1 yr and 900k. They should of just offered him 1 year 1-1.5 million. It sends a stronger message and people can't really attack them for that. It just wasn't a smart business move on the Phillies part.

[DentalPlan]

Alienate the fan base? Who cares? You work your ass off to placate the Phillies' fans and they turn on you in 3 months anyway.

Can anyone on the planet tell the difference between a happy Phillies fanbase and a pissed off one? Not on your life.

It's not a bad business decision because it's not going to affect business. They're not going to lose money on it. The only thing that will keep Phillies' fans less angry (they're never happy) is getting to the playoffs. I doubt that will happen with or without Howard, so...

And people who say the Phillies are to blame for keeping Thome are talking foolishly. Howard was still just a prospect. Thome was a force to be reckoned with through 2004. I mean, what if the Cubs stuck with uber-prospect Hee Seop Choi instead of trading for Derrek Lee? They'd be even more horrendous than they already are. Imagine dumping Eric Chavez for Sean Burroughs or something. There's risk in just saying "Hey, let's dump a proven 1.000 OPS guy for a prospect." Getting blocked in baseball happens, you man up about it.