Phillies Clinch NL East

[BrokenVisage]

gdrzsjgywyem

 

[Flipped Gazelle]

wat????
howard isn't pujols (who is??) but how do you call him mediocre? this was an off year for him and he still delivered 31 HR's. agreed on the fact that they probably coulda paid him less though

4 years prior to this, he's avg'd ~ 49/140

He's 733t b4tt3r

 

[BeauJangles]

wat????
howard isn't pujols (who is??) but how do you call him mediocre? this was an off year for him and he still delivered 31 HR's. agreed on the fact that they probably coulda paid him less though

Mediocre is an overstatement, but he is not elite. Not by any measure. He isn't even one of the 30 best players in baseball and he certainly isn't one of the top 1st basement in the game.

Bad? He hasn't been effective against lefties over the last three seasons -- at least in '10 he's been competent, but the general trend has been down, down, down. His power is disappearing as his K-rate is rising. He walks are declining. He can't play defense.

Worse? His skills (big power with poor contact) don't age well. He's not going to get better, he's only going to get worse or, maybe, hold his ground for a few years.

Worst? His skills are replaceable for a fraction of the cost. Yes, finding another guy to hit 50 homers is not easy, but finding a guy that's going to strike out a lot, hit 30 - 35 home runs, and play shitty defense at first is pretty easy to find today and can be had for a lot less than 25 million.

Now, to be fair to Howard, he's fixed some of these problems this season, but not enough. To think about providing value worth his salary, he'd have to replicate his best season ever, every year with only normal aging.

It's not that Howard is a bad player, he just isn't a $25 million dollar per year player. What really kills me about him is that the Phillies didn't even need to do this massive deal. If they let him play out next year, at least they'd have an idea as to how to project his future value.

Think of it this way. In Howard's entire career he has only posted one season that would provide the Phillies with surplus value on his 5 / $125 million dollar contact that covers his age 32-37 seasons. Yikes.

Look, maybe Howard will buck the trend and this will be a great signing as Howard rides off into the sunset in five years with another World Championship, but given his age, his skills, and the trend in his performance, signing him to such a huge contract wasn't a good idea.

 

[KeithTalent]

So happy Halladay is finally getting into the post season. Love that guy. :thumbsup:

KT

 

[SP33Demon]

The Rays.. where do I remember the Rays from?

oh yeah..

Owned.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_l3zPO2ifws&feature=related

 

[SP33Demon]

Phocking Pheeling it this year... The Little Red Machine is still chugging full speed ahead...

Pop the bubbly! This is just the beginning.
http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=12527713

 

[rh71]

/checks standings... wow way to go Mets.. you're at least still better than the Nats.