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Ryan Howard, Albatross

I’m sure most of you have already read the analysis and why the Phillies 5 year, $125 million dollar commitment to Ryan Howard is a bad idea. And it is. He’s a declining player with a skill set that deteriorates quickly. Think Mo Vaughn or David Ortiz.

However, my take is a little different. Each team should hold onto one of their heroes for as long into their career is possible. And when a team goes to two consecutive World Series and wins one of them, those players become town legends. You see that with the Yankees and Derek Jeter. For as long as Derek Jeter can reasonably play baseball, he will be in pinstripes.

This appears to be what the Phillies are doing. They’ve just picked the wrong player. Ryan Howard is huge and his home runs are moon shots. He drives in loads of runs. He does Subway commercials. Isn’t he the face of the franchise? While it appears that way, Chase Utley is the far superior player and the one that the Phillies should keep in town until he’s ready to hang them up. Utley’s contract keeps him in town until 2014, but assuming his production remains steady, I can’t imagine he’ll want to play for a team that cannot make any lateral moves because of the heavy weight that hangs out at first base.

Howard is already declining, and I doubt that he’ll ever sniff .300 again. His defense has improved, but he’s still not a gold glover. The reason why Howard has so many RBI is because of Chase Utley hitting in front of him. Chase Ultey is smooth with the glove, pops out 30 home runs a year and when his defense deteriorates with age, his skills would still make him an above average first baseman.

Phillies fans deserve to see their heroes stay in town. But the Phillies made a huge mistake with this signing.

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