The Nationals were linked to free agent slugger Prince Fielder for quite some time but yesterday the 27-year-old agreed to a nine-year, $214MM deal with the Tigers. Here's more on the Nats and other items from around the National League East..
- The Nats were never close to winning the Fielder bidding, tweets Buster Olney of ESPN.com. The club only got as far as discussing parameters of a deal, never specifics.
- Gio Gonzalez doesn't have a no-trade clause in his new deal with the Nationals, tweets Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post. Gonzalez agreed to a five-year extension with the club earlier this month.
- Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. said Tuesday that while he believes Domonic Brown would benefit from more sustained playing time in the minor leagues, he'l have a chance to win the leftfield job away from John Mayberry this spring, writes Rich Hofmann of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
- More from Hofmann as he writes that Amaro is even happier with Ryan Howard's five-year, $125MM deal after seeing the contracts signed by Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder.
- The Phillies looked at Omar Vizquel before he signed with Blue Jays, tweets Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com. Crasnick notes that the club still has Michael Martinez as a utility infielder.
- Washington GM Mike Rizzo says that the club was in the talks for Fielder "until the end," tweets Kilgore.
If his deal started two years ago, it would have been a good deal.
Disagree. He hasn’t been worth anywhere near $25 mil in either of the last 2 years. The Howard contract remains one of the absolute worst deals in baseball. If he’d have been a FA this offseason he’d be lucky to get 5/80
Not many players are…I don’t disagree with the fact that it’s an overpayment, however he was going to get a 100MM contract at least. 5/80 is his worth, 5/125 is what he got. Fielder is prob worth 140/7 and he got 74M more…baseball salaries are just ridiculous and I’m scared to think about 10 years from now.
If WAR is any indicator of value then Howard has been worth exactly $13m COMBINED over the past 2 seasons. During that same time Prince Fielder was worth $38m and Pujols was worth $53m. Prince and Fielder are in a different league from Howard. With him suffering such a major injury who knows how he will do coming back. $25m a year is WAY too much for Howard.
I’d be less worried about the first two years of Howard’s deal and more worried about the three that are to come. Even setting aside what a leg injury is going to do to an aging fatass, Howard is 32 years old and in obvious decline, as you can see from these per-season averages:
2006-2009: .278 AVG, .379 OBP, .589 SLG, 102 R, 28 2B, 50 HR, 143 RBI
2010-2011: .265 AVG, .350 OBP, .497 SLG, 84 R, 26 2B, 32 HR, 112 RBI
I’m not saying that, all other things being equal, you wouldn’t take the 2010-11 numbers over the next three seasons, but they’re not $25 million per season numbers or anywhere close. Also, they pretty strongly indicate that Howard is in the process of a pretty rapid decline. But it gets worse: Howard batted only .224/.286/.347 versus LHP and .236/.323/.452 on the road. Believe it or not, this was actually an improvement over his splits in 2009 as far as hitting lefties, but it represents a huge decrease in his home-road splits since his prime years.
It’s not looking good for Howard going forward.
two awful contracts don’t make a right
Does three?
Length wise it’s a great deal but he’s $5 million a year overpaid.
5/100 would’ve been great. If the deal ended at 34-35 I’d be fine with it.
phills should have signed keppinger , to play for the inevitably injured , rollins, utley or polonco. can’t wait to see martinez playing 50 games next year
Martinez played in 88 games last season. Every Phillies fan would love if he only got into 50.
hopefully utley doesnt miss the first two months
whoops in my digust i neglected a 1 infront of my 50
Ty Wigginton can play 2B and 3B.
Valdez played just under 100
Martinez played 88 as mentioned.
I hope with the addition of Wiggington that the Phillies will be less inclined to play Martinez and I’m assuming that was part of the thinking in dealing Valdez and saving about $400,000.
Galvis WILL play if JRoll hits the DL.
i can only hope , kinda interested to see what he’s got
Galvis WILL play if JRoll hits the DL.
Found out today that one of my cousins played little league baseball with Fielder. Pretty awesome
But seriously, that is pretty cool. I played little league with really bad people. I was one of them.
I was absolutely awful. Favorite sport to follow, least favorite sport to play.
i was on my little league team for my clubhouse presence
I was only allowed to stick around because my mom brought good snacks for after the game.
I hit one career home run in little league. My little league career is the equivalent of the mendoza line.
I hit one career home run in little league. My little league career is the equivalent of the mendoza line.
Nothing worse than standing alone on a mound watching your fielders Billy Bucker every ball hit to them…
Nothing worse than standing alone on a mound watching your fielders Billy Bucker every ball hit to them…
Cool story bro. Tell it again.
Got my brother a shirt that said that for christmas best present ever.
it actually was a good story, stop being a wad
Ate mile
Ate mile
“The Nats were never close to winning the Fielder bidding.” Funny how the same people were saying that Nationals were favorite.
“Ryan’s the kind of guy – and I guess this is one of the reasons why we
signed him to two long-term deals in a row – is that even when he signed
a multiyear deal, he was still working very hard,” Amaro said. “He’s
gotten himself into better shape than he’s ever been in.”
Really? He had to ride around in a motorized cart for a while and now he’s in better shape than he was in 2005-2007?
2007-2008 Ryan weighed 275 lbs.
When he signed the deal he was around 255.
He now weighs 240 and improved his defense greatly.
So, I’d say Ruben was right on.
I guess injuries mean you are out of shape.
He is not 240 and is arguably the worst defensive first basemen in the game and that’s not including his noodle arm which he’s terrified to use. Howard is more like 270 when the season starts and close to 300 once its time for him to choke in the postseason. Keep telling yourself he’s worth the money when in fact he’s not even a top 10 first basemen and is rapidly declining.
That was a well educated response. I appreciate your thought provoking input to our conversation. Thank you.
Oh, and I never said he was worth the money. It’s hard to name more than one player on each team (that was signed past arbitration) that is worth the money they are getting paid; especially one that was signed within the last 3 years.
2007-2008 Ryan weighed 275 lbs.
When he signed the deal he was around 255.
He now weighs 240 and improved his defense greatly.
So, I’d say Ruben was right on.
I guess injuries mean you are out of shape.
Ugh you’re comparing an injury to conditioning? Yeah that makes sense.
Posted twice for some reason.
iPhone? Mine has been doing that.
No, I simply don’t believe that Ryan Howard is in the best shape of his life. Seems like it’s said every year, same with his ‘new plate approach.’
And one of these days I’ll figure out why people think Howard has ‘greatly’ improved his defense. We using metrics here? I suppose he’s improved on routine grounders and picks, but he still can’t throw and his already limited range isn’t getting any better….
Nah, when you watch the team every day from his rookie year until now u can see. His throws have been much better, he covers a lot of ground in foul territory, he digs the ball out of the dirt a lot better, and goes to his left much better.
He still doesn’t cover too much ground and isn’t going to throw across the diamond, but he has improved a lot. He’s not going to win gold gloves, but he’s not going to cost you games either.
Since 2008, he’s cut down on his errors from 19 to 9
Fair enough. I won’t claim that I’ve watched Howard play 100+ games a year, but being a Braves fan I do see him quite a bit.
Fair enough. I won’t claim that I’ve watched Howard play 100+ games a year, but being a Braves fan I do see him quite a bit.
I’m wasting my time because you just used errors as a meaningful defensive stat for a 1st baseman but he’s improved his defense so much that his two worst seasons of UZR were…..the last two seasons.
I’m wasting my time because you just used errors as a meaningful defensive stat for a 1st baseman but he’s improved his defense so much that his two worst seasons of UZR were…..the last two seasons.
I’m wasting my time because you just used errors as a meaningful defensive stat for a 1st baseman but he’s improved his defense so much that his two worst seasons of UZR were…..the last two seasons.
Funny that you say you’re wasting your time with him since he listed errors yet you mention UZR which is pretty widely known to have its own flaws, especially for 1B.
Funny that you say you’re wasting your time with him since he listed errors yet you mention UZR which is pretty widely known to have its own flaws, especially for 1B.
UZR has its problems but compared to errors it’s an exact science. And UZR does have its problems but when it matches up with what the eye test of scouts and everyone but biased Phillies fans sees, I think it’s worth using as a tool. What do you prefer to use for defense? Your eye test? Let me guess…Phillies fan?
Please do not tell me that you trust fielding % more than UZR. Also it’s not just UZR. ALL of the advanced metrics paint a picture of a regressing fielder (TZ / +-, etc). Fielder is horrid with the glove and ranks as one of the worst base runners in the game. The guy is a power hitter (and a very good one at that) with some good BB skills. Beyond that you aren’t getting much.
Errors don’t exist in baseball anymore.
Him spraining his ankle last year had nothing to do with his conditioning.
Him tearing his achillies had nothing to do with his conditioning.
What the heck are you talking about? By all accounts he is in better shape, not sure where you’re getting the idea that he’s not given his injuries are freak injuries or the result of wear and tear.
Chase Utley’s always hurt… do you question his conditioning?
______________
… and he improved his fundamental approach to defense. He’s not going to magically turn into Mark Texiera… but he isn’t as bad as he was in 2007 or 2008 at least using the eye test.
No, I simply don’t believe that Ryan Howard is in the best shape of his life. Seems like it’s said every year, same with his ‘new plate approach.’
And one of these days I’ll figure out why people think Howard has ‘greatly’ improved his defense. We using metrics here? I suppose he’s improved on routine grounders and picks, but he still can’t throw and his already limited range isn’t getting any better….
Ugh you’re comparing an injury to conditioning? Yeah that makes sense.
Okay – here’s the deal with the three 1B you’re talking about.
In a 162 season, here are the stats that they have averaged in their careers.
And this comes straight from Baseball-reference.com
Pujols – 600 AB / 123 R / 42 HR / 126 RBI / 8 SB / 93 BB / 67 K / .328 AVG
Howard 598 AB / 100 R / 45 HR / 136 RBI / 2 SB / 85 BB / 190 K / .275 AVG
Fielder -573 AB / 93 R / 37 HR / 106 RBI / 3 SB / 92 BB / 126 K / .282 AVG
Howard beats both Pujols and Fielder in HR’s AND RBI’s
Howard won Rookie of the Year his 1st year.
Howard won the MVP in his 2nd year
5th in MVP voting in his 3rd year
2nd in MVP voting in his 4th year
3rd in MVP voting in his 5th year
10th in MVP voting in his 6th year
10th in MVP voting in his 7th year
He’s won a Silver Slugger and is a 3 time All-Star
He won the HR Derby in an All-Star Game
He has 1 World Series Ring
He has 2 NL Penant Rings
He has 6 straight NL Divisional Champion Rings
He’s a 2 time NL HR Champion
He’s a 3 time NL RBI Champion
So all you haters out there – chew on them FACTS
Kara- While the fact that Howard’s contract is for 5 years instead of 9 or 10 years is a positive he also plays in a FAR better ball park for hitters than either Fielder or Pujols. Over the past 5 years:
Howard Fielder Pujols
OPS+ 144 157 157
124 130 190
141 166 189
127 135 173
125 164 150
B-R WAR 2.6 3.8 8.3
2.8 2.1 9.6
4.4 6.1 8.8
2.0 2.7 7.1
2.7 5.2 5.4
The reality is that in a neutral setting Howard is NOT as good as either Fielder or Pujols and Fielder has the added advantage of being 4 years younger (at least) than either of the other 2.
something must be up with disqus doublepost too
Howard hit more HR away from CBP than at the stadium. He can jack them anywhere and isnt due to a hitter friendly park.