Things have gone south very quickly for the Philadelphia Phillies and the personnel fire sale has yet to even begin. One of the largest items in that fire sale is veteran first baseman Ryan Howard and his morbidly obese contract.
The soon-to-be 35-year-old, former 50 home run hitter has been rumored in trade talks since the Phillies rolled into the 2013-14 offseason with a 73-89 record and cloudy long-term future. While Howard remains on pace for 25 bombs and 100 RBI, he may not hit above .225 or eclipse the .300 OBP mark for the second straight season.
Furthermore, he is owed a whopping $60 million over the 2015 and 2016 seasons, not to mention the remaining balance of his $25 million salary in 2014. The man who played in 143-plus games for six straight seasons is finally on pace to pass that mark again after a combined 151 games played in 2012 and 2013, but the productivity simply does not match the price tag.
Howard’s decline started on the final at-bat of the 2011 NLDS when he grounded out to end the series, tearing his achilles when leaving the batter’s box. He missed the first two months of the subsequent season while recovering from the injury then missed three more months with a torn meniscus in 2013. Howard did manage to hit 14 HRs and record 54 RBI in those 71 games during 2012 but he batted a paltry .219 with a career-low OBP of .295, a far cry from his late 2000’s days of .392, .425 and so on.
The Phillies will likely flirt with the 100-loss mark in 2014, just two years removed from four-straight playoff appearances and five years following back-to-back World Series visits, winning in 2008. Other aging players Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins and Cliff Lee could be moved in the coming weeks, officially starting a potentially brutal rebuilding process.
As reported by Jim Salisbury of CSN Philly, Ryan Howard may not join those players on the trade block, but instead the team is considering releasing him ouright. His contract is simply too large for a contending ballclub to consume over the next two-plus seasons, especially for a declining first baseman.
Even more bad news for Phillies fans? Their top prospects pool ranks among the weakest in baseball, with ESPN’s Keith Law (subscription required) giving the franchise only one name in his top 50 prospects ranking this month: shortstop J.P. Crawford.
The Ryan Howard-led Philadelphia Phillies appear to be desperate and desperate enough to eat at least $60 million of their former slugger’s contract. Things are not looking bright in Philly for the foreseeable future.
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Photo Courtesy: Ross D. Franklin/AP
