Yardbarker: Ryan Howard

Hamels Snuggles In Bed

Sat, 11 Apr 2009 07:57:37 -0500

Phillies Starting Pitching: 4 gm, 0-3, 18.2 ip, 36 h, 6 bb, 22 r, 7 hr. That's a 10.88 era with a top of the shit heap 2.34 whip. Rally-Killer: Ryan Howard did a damn fine job of clearing the bases yesterday...by hitting into 3 double plays.Phillies Offense: Aside from the wild 7th inning in Wednesday's win, the Phils have scored only 8 runs in 4 games. Pathetic!~Carson

World Champion Phillies Set To Meet Barack Obama At The White House

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 02:05:52 -0500

The Phillies will play the Nationals next Monday in our nation's capital. On their off day on Tuesday, the 2008 World Champions will get a chance to meet Barack Obama at the White House.

Ryan Howard: Skinny Strike Out King

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 12:49:08 -0500

The streets is saying Ryan Howard has come to camp svelte. I don't care if he went on the Bobby Sands diet, he better be more concerned with striking out so darned much.

Phillies sign Ryan Howard to 3 year deal

Sun, 08 Feb 2009 13:19:21 -0500

Your 2009 Phillies are now ready to defend their championship. After a flurry of players avoided arbitration in the last few weeks, the Phillies had just one player left to sign: Ryan Howard. The Phils were set to go to arbitration with their big slugger and it figured to be a dicey situation since the two sides were 4 million apart in their thinking. All of that goes out the window now as the Phillies have signed Howard to a 3 year, 54 million dollar contract. The contract averages ou...

Ryan Howard requests 18 million

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 20:18:25 -0500

A situation that is likely going to get dicey got under way today: the Ryan Howard salary arbitration. Today was the day that players and teams exchanged salary arbitration numbers and the Phillies and Howard are already 4 million dollars apart. The big slugger requested 18 million dollars while the Phillies offered 14. Howard already won a huge case last year that gave him a 10 million dollar contract and now he is requesting the 3rd highest amount in arbitration history.... Click for more o...

Uh Oh, Here Comes Ryan Howard

Sun, 26 Oct 2008 12:09:49 -0500

You just can't keep a good man down. Don't look now folks, but here comes Ryan Howard

Ryan Howard for MVP

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 21:06:44 -0500

I can't believe that some people are dismissing Ryan Howard for the 2008 Most Valuable Player Award. I can't think of anyone more deserving. Albert Pujols is an incredible hitter, no doubt about it. But the Cardinals are a .500 team and will not make the playoffs. Manny Ramirez and CC Sabathia have had very productive half-seasons with the Dodgers and Brewers, respectively, but have only been valuable to their club for half the year. The Cubs - my Chicago Cubs - have seen contributions made by a handful of players without one particular player "carrying" the club for a stretch. I've heard people say that Ryan's batting average may hurt him and that he strikes out too much. What? His job is to drive in runs and he has done a better job at that than anyone in baseball. He has 10 more home runs and 20 more RBIs than anyone in baseball. He gets hits when it matters most. The Phillies - who are in first place - are there because Ryan has put this team on his back and carried them through September. Isn't that the definition of valuable?

Howard and Delgado in similar spots for MVP nods

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 10:16:40 -0500

Statistically, neither Ryan Howard nor Carlos Delgado has done more overall than other contenders, but in a weak National League field, voters could be swayed depending on how the Phillies and Mets finish these last two weeks. It's shaping up to be another year when voters cast their ballots based on who steps up most late in the season, when cameras are rolling and flashbulbs burning. And as we've seen in the last two seasons, it never hurts to play...

Mark McGwire Talking Comeback?

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 17:35:48 -0500

It's been 10 years to the day since Mark McGwire broke Roger Maris' single season home run record, and things have only gone downhill from there for the former Bash Brother. He's been involved in steroid scandals, congressional hearings - and he's made it pretty clear that he has no interest in talking about the past. But even on the field, the game wasn't very kind to him near the end of his first go 'round. While he did knock 29 homers in 2001, his final season, he m...

Softball Player Pulls Aaron Rowand

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 14:49:04 -0500

Except she doesn't break her nose and fails to make the catch. Matter of fact, it seems she was nowhere even close to making a play on the ball. National Fast Pitch's "Shanel Scott tries to make the catch. Just obliterates the wall." Meanwhile, the announcer describes Team USA slugger Crystal Bustos (who hit the bomb) as though she was Ryan Howard: "What is so impressive about Crystal Bustos is the pitch prior she is completely fooled on an off-speed. She almost s...

Ryan Howard: Time to Worry?

Sun, 04 May 2008 05:36:18 -0500

Ryan Howard is pissing me off. He's considered a slugging firstbaseman; I consider him to be more slug-like, and I'm not just referring to his lack of speed. Howard is still relatively new to the Majors, this being only his 3rd full season, and it's becoming evident that he's prone to a sluggish start. No excuses, this type of performance is just plain ridiculous. The Phils are doing their best to win despite Howard's best efforts to sink the ship. His .170 batting average...

Don't Player Hate, Arbitrate

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 10:12:49 -0500

Ryan Howard's agent, Larry Reynolds, is spending hours each day (or delegating that responsibility to someone else) preparing a case to prove that Howard deserves $10 million instead of the $7 million that the Phillies want to compensate him for his efforts. The system is called arbitration, but why is it used and what tactics are employed by agents? Phil Miller of The Sports Economist takes a look at the arduous arbitration that threatens MLB teams and players around this time every year. One reason it is unpopular is because of the nature of the hearing process. For the players, they try to maximize their value to their team in the eyes of the arbitration panel: a sort of "how great I art" argument. For the teams, they try to minimize the player's value: basically arguing "how great thou aren't." This is contentious. Baseball's labor market consists of three tiers of players: 1. reserved players who have less than three years of service* are, basically, the property of their teams; 2. arbitration-eligibles - players who have at least three years of service are also the property of their teams. But they can have their salaries determined through arbitration; 3. free agents, players who are not the property of their teams and are free to sign with whoever wants to sign them. The collective bargaining agreement (CBA) restricts what arbitration panels can consider when rendering decisions (Article VI, Section F). Among those considerations are what comparable baseball players have earned as salaries. Because some free agents are comparable to arbitration-eligibles, their salaries, somewhat filtered down and averaged out, become part of the consideration (Dan Marburger's 2004 Economic Inquiry paper on arbitrator compromise provides econometric evidence of this). That's one reason why players see a jump in their salaries when they first become eligible. *A set of players with two years of service are also eligible for arbitration. Like I have said time and time again, baseball is unique in that any case that actually is heard by an arbitrator must be decided for one side. There is no middle ground. Final Offer Arbitration will render a decision that gives Ryan Howard $10 million (his figure) or $7 million (the Phillies' figure). This is why we see so many pre-hearing settlements. According to Ed Edmonds of Sports Law Blog, a pre-hearing settlement may not be favorable to the player. His research over the past four years shows that 45% of the pre-hearing settlements were for below the midpoint value (example would be Howard taking less than $8.5 million in a settlement, which is less than the midpoint between $10 million and $7 million) while 22% were at the midpoint. Only 11% settled at a price above the midpoint. Something to remember, though, is that often times a player is better off taking a settlement a little below the midpoint instead of going to an arbitration hearing only to lose out to the team and be forced to accept an even lower offer. The Phillies and Rays are two teams that have not lost an arbitration hearing, and many other teams have a better than .500 record when proving their cases to the 3 person panel of arbitrators. Agents often have a very tough time deciding whether to settle their clients cases or take them to a hearing. There is often times a lot to lose coupled with a lot to potentially win by taking a case all the way to arbitration. However, many players would rather not worry about it and will favor getting rid of any risk by settling before hand. Armed with proper research and a solid plan, any agent can get through this tough period unscathed.