Trade Ryan Howard

Good points. The Phils need pitching and Howard would be great trade bait. But he is one of the 3 reasons that fans come to CBP! He puts the asses in the seats.If he were to be traded, it would hurt unless it were for a superstar!!

Wow are you an idiot or what? With our offense we can get by with mediocre pitching. He'll only cost us 10mill/yr over the next 3 seasons since he is still under contract and only eligible for arbitration. Keep in mind that Burrell is making 15 million this season in his final year of his contract...he won't be making that much next season whether he plays here or somewhere else. The Phils actually won the arbitration with the ruling going in Howard's favor. He stays happy and they still have him at a bargain price. They will lock him up in a couple years...he's part of the young nucleus they have and something they will continue to build around.

so yea it sounded crazy, and it also sounded pretty dumb. you don't trade that kind of player away when you can afford him...and the Phillies CAN

not agreeing with the article, but only 10 million? That arbitration figure was for this year only. If he puts up the numbers he put up last year he'll most likely jump to 12-13 next year if it goes to arbitration

Well that would be unprecedented and I doubt 12-13 will happen for the simple fact that it would screw over future arbitrations and negotiations. Then again, many said 10 mill wouldn't happen this soon too

yea it would be very unprecedented, but then again no player has ever hit arbitration again after getting his 10 mil (soriano). so who knows its very likely to happen, i mean youd have to give a raise

Soriano hasn't had the numbers recently to warrant anything...so thats much ado about nothing as far as im concerned

BOOOO are you a mets fan?

Wow, you guys are harsh. And I don't think that we can get by with mediocre pitching. Last year was a prime example.I personally don't WANT Howard to be traded ever, he's a quintessential Phillie, but this point will be brought up and worth debate.

Well when theres no aces out there to be had what can ya do? Our focus in the future, when Gillick finally steps down, needs to be on the farm system. There are some great prospects in Reading, but Gillick seems oh so eager to trade away our young prospects. Gio went in the Floyd deal and Constanzzz went to Houston. Ask Cashman what the best approach to pitching is...finding and developing talent, not writing checks like they've been doing. Besides, our rotation is 60% solid for years to come. Who knows what Jamie has left in the tank, and Eaton...well lets just say hes been a surprise thus far but I'm not holding my breath on him.

There are some young guys in the system who should produce for us in the future. This team has a chemistry going that would be foolish to mess with. They know who they are, they know what they are capable and they are going to have another great season. We're already way better off than we've been in years past.

Totally agree. Now if the stupid ass errors stop and they play smarter defensively, there should be no RH trade talk,huh? As far as Gillick is concerned.....wish we could trade him. lol

Gillick has a no trade clause.Might wave it to go to the Yanks though ;)

I disagree with the point of the article but I'll try to be nice. A starting pitcher can win a game for you once every five days.Ryan Howard can win a game for you EVERYday. Besides, (warning!warning!the following is hypothetical for discussion purposes only and does not constitute a verbal or printed rumor or newsstory) let's say the Phillies wanted to trade Howard for pitching.You would trust the guys who brought us Freddy Garcia, Adam Eaton, old man Lieber, old man Moyer, etc. to negotiate real value for a young 40 HR a year first base, MVP, crowd pleasing, marquis first-baseman.No Way.

All well and good, but is Greg Dobbs your new everyday first baseman? Let's just say they did trade Howard, I would move Utley to first and bring up super prospect Adrian Cardenas to play second.

We're not trading Howard! Super prospects will have to wait and enjoy living in Allentown(if that's possible).

Keep Howard for the next 3 seasons, which are his prime years anyway, then let him sign a ridiculous contract to go play DH in the AL.

Gillick's contract is up either this year or next...anybody know for certain which it is?

Gillick's contract runs out Nov. of this year (scout.com or MLB.com).Local media would have you believe Ruben Amaro Jr. is next.HOWEVER, Gillick has see-sawed through the same media outlets saying he will leave, then saying he doesn't know.The only clear fact is that Pat Gillick is undecided what he will do if offered a new contract.

personally, i think amaro SHOULD NOT get the job and they should look outside the organization. he's learned under two morons, first wade and now gillick.. gillick was good back in his prime but isn't adapt to todays game. so who knows what amaro has learned from these idiots

I'm inclined to agree.There's definitely a strong buzz that the job's gonna go to Amaro.He probably represents everything the owner conglomerate desires in a GM since he's been with the organization for so long.I don't think they need an entirely new approach to the team but some changes have to happen with the evaluation of talent,particularly with respect to free agent pitchers and the way we run spring training.

We looked outside of the organization for Gillick and where'd that get us? He makes Wade look better every day. Amaro will be a GREAT GM...I wouldn't risk losing him to another club, especially with how young he is. So unless its Brian Cashman...I say stay in house.

He's pretty much conceeded to being gone after this season with lapdog Amaro taking the reigns...ugh!

first off... Howard is 28. That isn't a young talent.. he just made it to the MLB late. Also Howard doesn't want to sign a long term deal because he will get more money year to year, but one thing he's stupid because if he gets hurt or has a bad season he isn't going to get money if hurt. Lastly I just want to say the the Phils FO is CHEAP! They need to stop being cheap and throw out some loot, so we can win a championship.

It is true that the Front Office used to be cheap, but since moving to the new stadium the Phils have a top 10 payroll every season...not so cheap anymore.

Giving Eaton $24 million over 3 years is cheap? No they aren't cheap, they're just foolish. I'm still pissed they wouldn't give Cole that extra $200k. Last time I checked we had one of the highest payrolls in the NL

we're in the middle.Braves and Mets above, Nats and Fish below.Phillies are #13 overall.

Yup.You can argue that they spend money on the wrong guys but they DO spend money.

Well I owe ferkid an apology.Turns out he's right.Hey GM the phillies have most definitely NOT had a top ten payroll in the new park.Here's what I found out on scout.com (I'll post an article with better details in a minute). 2007 phillies were #14 in payroll with $89 million. 2008 phillies are #13 in payroll with $98 million. Both seasons have the Mets and Braves with higher numbers. Some interesting teams that have higher payrolls this year, Toronto and Seattle. So sorry Ferkid! You are right the Phillies are "cheap".

You're forgetting to account for the money they're still paying Jim Thome- about 7 mil. per season, and the money they've brough on during the season (ie. Jeff Conine, Kyle Lohse, Jamie Moyer, etc.)

Lohse and Conine were one go round late acquistions.How much could they possibly have cost?Look man, this is news to me, too. I was under the impression the Phillies spent A LOT more.Let's give them Thome $ plus ten million for in season pick ups.That puts us at number ten on list if no other team spends above their payroll. Number ten, still behind the Blue Jays and about three million above the Braves. Other teams have to spend money during the season,too, so I don't know how much higher the Phillies move up on the list with your additional costs.Face it, dude was right.They are cheap.

Sorry not the Blue Jays. They'd be behind Seattle.Currently they are about even with Toronto at 98 million.

I personally don't find them cheap anymore, just foolish in their spending (ie. Eaton, Barajas, Feliz, Ryan Franklin).

I'll give you Eaton and Barajas for sure...Franklin wasn't as big of an investment. But Feliz??? the season just started and he's been fine. He already has 2 homers and is well on his way to providing our offense with a 20 homer season. His defense has been average, but so has everybodys...his track record leads us to believe that won't be a problem spot for him.

Dude homeruns are nice, but they're not everything. His average is bad, his on base % is bad, his slugging % is bad, which makes for one ugly OPS...not good offensively.

Ryan Howard's stats:
2006: On base %: .425 (7th in the MLB), OPS: 1.084 (3rd in the MLB), BA: .313 (21st in MLB)
2007: On base %: .392 (21st in the MLB), OPS: .976 (9th in the MLB), BA: .268 (Not top 100)

His batting average obviously slipped last year, and he strikes out a lot. BUT, those numbers are very, very solid. These are not exactly weaknesses, other than his subpar BA last year. This is not to mention his Home Runs and RBIs, which are always top 5 in the league, easily.

My comment above is in regards to Pedro Feliz, that's why I responded to DTRIK19...the comments are not about Howard- PhillyFan7.

He's our 7 hole hitter, sometimes 6...you don't expect much offense from that position.

The 6/7 hole hitter in the Phils lineup is a big deal because that player comes to the plate with men on base a lot (Burrell and Howard are on base machines). So yes, it does matter.

Every position "matters" but in baseball...not Phillie specific, the 7 and 8 hole hitters are usually defensive guys (an infielder and the catcher.) If you happen to have a player with some pop...like we do, you're in a better position than most. Its not their job to knock runs in...thats the job of 3-4-5 and at times, 6 hitters. Its baseball 101. If we didn't have guys like JRoll or Utley on the team then we'd definitely need production elsewhere since their positions are typically defense only. We knew what we were getting with Feliz, a .270 hitter who will hit 20 homers and knock in 75 runs or so. Thats more than enough production from a 7 hole hitter.

We got a little spoiled last year with Rowand who had an out of character year. Feliz is doing what we paid him to do on the offensive end, he'll still need to show us something in the field though.

Your "Baseball 101" is outdated. It's true that lineups used to be set up that way, but the most prolific offenses (which the Phils supposedly trot out) are pretty much stacked throughout with league average or better offensive players (Feliz is below league average except for homeruns).

Take a look around the league...and don't count the teams with 100+ million payrolls and tell me what you find in that 7 position. Sorry but its not outdated and will never be outdated. Teams still need defense and thats what the bottom of the order will always be used for. Its kinda like little league, you put your worst offensive players at the end of the lineup. Guess you need to be back in that position to remember.

You're putting too much emphasis on homeruns. I agree Feliz will likely hit 20+ homeruns, but that's only 20 at bats out of 500-600. In other at bats he'll be busy swinging at the first pitch, popping up or grounding into double plays. His on base % in horrible (sub .300) which means he's making an awful lot of outs...so how exactly is that a good thing? Homeruns are nice, and I'm happy when he hits them, but getting hits and taking walks is a HUGE part of offense too.

I'm putting no emphasis on homeruns, just saying at that position of the lineup its an added bonus. We got him for his defense and some offense on top of that. Would you rather have Helms who couldn't play D to save his life but was only he for his offense (great numbers huh)? Or Nunez...a defensive stud who couldn't hit or get on base to save his life. Be great to have Polly still around as he could do both, but we got what we gots. Every team is going to have some holes, lets be thankful as isn't a big hole.

I understand what you're saying, but we're going to have to agree to disagree because I do consider Pedro Feliz a "big hole", the man is a league leader in outs made nearly every season, and I'm talking outs on offense not defense.

Well lets just hope he makes up for it with the runs he saves our pitchers

Just curious...how'd Feliz look tonight?!?!


GO PHILS!

You folks get so offended by opposing view points. No one wants to see Howard traded, but that doesnt make the author a moron or an idiot. It's just a view point with logical arguments.

You also enjoy seeing potty shots on the jumbotron so how do you have any room to talk? hahaha just messing with ya

I'm not offended, I disagree. Mom2a2 had the most obvious and pertinent reason that Ryan wont be traded.He puts asses in the seats and is incredibly marketable on t-shirts and souvenirs.Although the question here is should he be traded.I say no.Howard's impact in the line up may be easy to over-hype but as an integral part of an offense that routinely overcomes crappy pitching I want to see it kept intact. The FO can improve the pitching,through better evaluation and managing, without trading away a star.

The Phillies are a great example of "paying for your mistakes".

Ryan is our slugger hell naww dont trade him

that mentality is why he won't get big money here. easier to just sweep him off to the yankees.
sometimes its a good idea to spend a few dollars to give yourself a fighting chance.
what ever happened to building a team not buying a team. terrible management!