Why $900K
The questions that all of Phillies nation has been asking since the Phillies renewed Ryan Howard’s contract is, Why $900K? The most recent Phillies Phan to join in the chorus of decent is author Mark Bowden. Bowden expressed his opinion in this Sunday’s Philadelphia Inquirer in an editorial entitled Pay Up, Phillies. To synopsize the article Bowden believes that the Phillies should have paid Ryan Howard more because he is a great player. He believes the Phillies haven’t shelled out the big buck because of the collective bargaining agreement that governs contracts and poor decisions by the Phillies front office.
I have a few issues with Bowden’s article. The first is the contention that Howard has missed out on years of service time because of Jim Thome. Howard advanced steadily through the minors. In his early professional baseball career he spent one season at Batavia, Lakewood, and Clearwater. In those three seasons he played well but not great. That’s because he was developing, learning, and becoming a better ball player. MVPs don’t grow on trees they take time to grow. After that Howard had one superb season at Reading and Scranton and earned a cup of coffee in the Majors. At this point Howard was ready and he did have to wait behind Jim Thome. Fortunately for the Phillies and for Howard, Thome only played in 59 games for the Phillies that season. In retrospect the 61 games Howard played for Scranton that year wasn’t that long a wait after all.
Second the Phillies did pay Ryan Howard a boatload of money; a boatload of money for a player with two years service time. That $900,000 is the most for any player with one year-plus Major League service time. That $900,000 ties him for the highest salary of a non-arbitration eligible baseball player with Albert Pujols. On top of that even if Howard has a sub par 2007 season he will make a lot of money in arbitration.
Now if I may on behalf of the Phillies organization answer the request in the title of Mark Bowden’s. We did pay him Mark, stick to writing books.
Sources:
Pay Up, Phillies
By Mark Bowden / Philadelphia Inquirer
The $900,000 Man
By Todd Zolecki / Philadelphia Inquirer
Picture of Ryan Howard from citypaper.net
2 comments:
I agree that it was bizarre to read Mark Bowden's take on the Howard deal. Bowden is not known for sportswriting and is essentially a fan who was allowed to offer his opinion because of his other work.
I felt, like you, that a lot of his arguments were flawed. It was a very pro-Howard piece. I think that for once the Phillies did the right thing and that Howard should be grateful to the fact that no player in the history of the game has earned $900,000 with less than 2 years active service.
Howard is indeed a very special player, but remember that pro baseball is a business first. The Phillies have to look out for their best interest as well, and I think they were more than fair to Howard.
The most irksome thing about the whole situation is that people are acting like $900K is not that much money. I'd give almost anything to play professional baseball for much less money.
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