How Howard Can Get Repaired

[Macho Row]

Very imaginative with that screen name. I bet you're also a fan of vanilla ice-cream and Superman

He's also known as Heisenberg. A fan of that crap show as well.

Also, did you see they tore down the McDonald's on Main Street? That shit was a staple

I did see that, passed by it the other day during the hot beds lacrosse tourney. Looks like its almost back up, or am I wrong and it was still in the process of being taken down?

 

[Marlins Fan]

He's also known as Heisenberg. A fan of that crap show as well.

Truth.

 

[Marlins Fan]

Fail.

 

[Omar 382]

He's also known as Heisenberg. A fan of that crap show as well.

I did see that, passed by it the other day during the hot beds lacrosse tourney. Looks like its almost back up, or am I wrong and it was still in the process of being taken down?

Wait, you don't like Breaking Bad? Inconceivable!

Not sure, but I do know that it blew up in the mid 70's but everyone wants to act like it was built in 1960

 

[Macho Row]

Wait, you don't like Breaking Bad? Inconceivable!

Not sure, but I do know that it blew up in the mid 70's but everyone wants to act like it was built in 1960

I remember reading about what they're doing with it on delawareonline.com but can't remember now. Pretty soon Main Street like Middletown will be unrecognizable. Ultimately I could not care less though. Fuck Delaware.

 

[TheSnowdog]

Yes I know Howard is not living up to his contract. It’s a shame not because of the money but because if he is not living up to his contract that means it affects the Phillies success

I’m tired of hearing about his contract. Who cares is what I say. What’s done is done. If Amaro didn’t give it to Howard he would have spent it on an overpriced free agent. At least with Howard he did earn it somewhat with the productivity he put up in his earlier years for the Phillies. I would rather give it to him than some mercenary (such as Papelbon) who doesn’t have any history with the Phillies and isn’t creating any history with the Phillies except picking up a check.

But bottom line - and I know people don’t want to hear this - is that I don’t care if the Phillies pay this guy that money or that guy this money. I don’t care if the Phillies payroll is $500 million. In the grand scheme of things in my personal life the Phillies payroll does not affect me whatsoever.

Even if the Phillies payroll is 1 dollar you are not going to see any change in the ticket pricing or cable bill.

All I care about is the Phillies success.

So with that said regarding Howard I don’t care about the money he his getting paid. But what I do care about is his loss of productivity and that inability to produce affects the success of the Phillies. I think Howard is a good guy but I agree with others in this thread that he might balk at going down to the minors. And also with his age I’m not sure it would help.

The problem with trying to get an AL team to take him as a DH is that as a DH he is going to have to hit and that is a problem with him now. So to me a trade to an AL team is going to be problematic not because of Howard’s contract but because of his productivity issues.

I would love for Howard to say yes send me down and let me get straightened out and then all of a sudden he is a beast at the plate but I’ve been hoping he gets back to form for the past couple of seasons now. Still waiting…

It might be in everyone’s best interests - Howard’s and the Phillies - to let him go his way. If the Phillies can trade him so be it. If not then cut him loose. I hate saying that because I have been a Howard fan and I loved watching him in his good years bash away but the Phillies as a team need to get on track here and it looks like to do that they need to cut the dead weight.

 

[Macho Row]

Yes I know Howard is not living up to his contract. It’s a shame not because of the money but because if he is not living up to his contract that means it affects the Phillies success

I’m tired of hearing about his contract. Who cares is what I say. What’s done is done. If Amaro didn’t give it to Howard he would have spent it on an overpriced free agent. At least with Howard he did earn it somewhat with the productivity he put up in his earlier years for the Phillies. I would rather give it to him than some mercenary (such as Papelbon) who doesn’t have any history with the Phillies and isn’t creating any history with the Phillies except picking up a check.

But bottom line - and I know people don’t want to hear this - is that I don’t care if the Phillies pay this guy that money or that guy this money. I don’t care if the Phillies payroll is $500 million. In the grand scheme of things in my personal life the Phillies payroll does not affect me whatsoever.

Even if the Phillies payroll is 1 dollar you are not going to see any change in the ticket pricing or cable bill.

All I care about is the Phillies success.

So with that said regarding Howard I don’t care about the money he his getting paid. But what I do care about is his loss of productivity and that inability to produce affects the success of the Phillies. I think Howard is a good guy but I agree with others in this thread that he might balk at going down to the minors. And also with his age I’m not sure it would help.

The problem with trying to get an AL team to take him as a DH is that as a DH he is going to have to hit and that is a problem with him now. So to me a trade to an AL team is going to be problematic not because of Howard’s contract but because of his productivity issues.

I would love for Howard to say yes send me down and let me get straightened out and then all of a sudden he is a beast at the plate but I’ve been hoping he gets back to form for the past couple of seasons now. Still waiting…

It might be in everyone’s best interests - Howard’s and the Phillies - to let him go his way. If the Phillies can trade him so be it. If not then cut him loose. I hate saying that because I have been a Howard fan and I loved watching him in his good years bash away but the Phillies as a team need to get on track here and it looks like to do that they need to cut the dead weight.

Pretty much spot on, IMO.

People like to bash Ruben for the Howard contract but that is so short sighted and stupid on their part. Did they do it a season too soon? Possibly. But at the time he may have got a 30 mil a year contract somewhere else, had he not become so injury ridden and fallen off the cliff, we may have been looking back at this as one hell of a bargain. I know the past few seasons have been rough for him, but there was a time he was the most feared slugger in the game. He was knocking them out at an all time rate for about 4 years. Even the 2 years following that he was still one of the more productive players in the game.

The problem with trading him is your gonna be on the hook for almost as much as if you bought him out. I rather pay off the 60 mil in a creative way and be done with it opposed to owing him atleast 20 over the next 2 seasons while he is on another roster.

 

[Swamp Dragon]

Howard knows that he has a problem. Advice from a dozen people won't help him. Going to the batting cage daily is a waste of time. The only way he can work it out is to admit that he's lost at the plate and demote himself to triple A where he could spend a few weeks bashing balls at a lower level.

He'd likely rediscover his batting stance and natural swing. Ryno and the coaches should demand that Howard do this. He'd likely agree to it. And while he's down there, Franco could come up and get a taste of the real world. This is probably too simple for the front office to understand but it's only common sense.

I find that hard to believe

 

[jvett77]

If Howard truly wants to earn his $25 mil he will agree to a hitting rehab rather than a benching or being cut. Why should the Phillies give up on this investment when there's even a small chance that the problem could be solved by doing something very simple like temporary rehab.

 

[Four4Four]

Learn to bat right handed.

 

[Cedrique]

Pretty much spot on, IMO.

People like to bash Ruben for the Howard contract but that is so short sighted and stupid on their part. Did they do it a season too soon? Possibly. But at the time he may have got a 30 mil a year contract somewhere else, had he not become so injury ridden and fallen off the cliff, we may have been looking back at this as one hell of a bargain. I know the past few seasons have been rough for him, but there was a time he was the most feared slugger in the game. He was knocking them out at an all time rate for about 4 years. Even the 2 years following that he was still one of the more productive players in the game.

The problem with trading him is your gonna be on the hook for almost as much as if you bought him out. I rather pay off the 60 mil in a creative way and be done with it opposed to owing him atleast 20 over the next 2 seasons while he is on another roster.

I don't understand what you mean by this. What kind of creative way to pay him do you have in mind? Are you talking about paying him a few million a year for 30 years like the Mets did with Bobby Bonilla? And what is the purpose of that for the Phillies? Does that count less against the luxury tax or something?
If you're just worried about him making a comeback with another team and becoming productive again while the Phillies are paying 95% of his salary I think I'm ok with that. They need to have first base open so they have more flexibility to give guys like Ruf or Franco or whoever else a chance to see if they can hit at the major league level.

The weird thing about this is that even though Amaro, as with most of his moves gave Howard the giant contract to keep him a "Phillie for life" is that the way it seems to be turning out, Howard's legacy would probably be viewed more favorable if he was not signed long term. If they let him walk when he became eligible and he never played another game with the Phillies he would be a legendary figure in their history no matter how bad he did with any other teams he played for. But if he goes out now he'll be loved for his first few years but a lot of people will take a long time to forget about the steep decline he took while making millions of dollars.

 

[jvett77]

I don't understand what you mean by this. What kind of creative way to pay him do you have in mind? Are you talking about paying him a few million a year for 30 years like the Mets did with Bobby Bonilla? And what is the purpose of that for the Phillies? Does that count less against the luxury tax or something?
If you're just worried about him making a comeback with another team and becoming productive again while the Phillies are paying 95% of his salary I think I'm ok with that. They need to have first base open so they have more flexibility to give guys like Ruf or Franco or whoever else a chance to see if they can hit at the major league level.

The weird thing about this is that even though Amaro, as with most of his moves gave Howard the giant contract to keep him a "Phillie for life" is that the way it seems to be turning out, Howard's legacy would probably be viewed more favorable if he was not signed long term. If they let him walk when he became eligible and he never played another game with the Phillies he would be a legendary figure in their history no matter how bad he did with any other teams he played for. But if he goes out now he'll be loved for his first few years but a lot of people will take a long time to forget about the steep decline he took while making millions of dollars.

What's so complicated about it? I'm suggesting a temporary rehab hitting assignment for Howard in AAA until he gets his problems at the plate worked out. If it doesn't work then there's nothing more that can be done and he'll benched/released/traded. I don't care what he gets paid or where he'll end up. But the best thing that can happen for Howard right now is to find out if he can be fixed. You can't let a guy walk if there's the smallest chance things might change for the better. Now, I know none of this will happen. It's too logical. And it would be a crime sending a mega bucks man down to play around in triple A, despite any good it might do.

 

[Cedrique]

What's so complicated about it? I'm suggesting a temporary rehab hitting assignment for Howard in AAA until he gets his problems at the plate worked out. If it doesn't work then there's nothing more that can be done and he'll benched/released/traded. I don't care what he gets paid or where he'll end up. But the best thing that can happen for Howard right now is to find out if he can be fixed. You can't let a guy walk if there's the smallest chance things might change for the better. Now, I know none of this will happen. It's too logical. And it would be a crime sending a mega bucks man down to play around in triple A, despite any good it might do.

I was talking about the bolded paragraph in Macho Row's post. It sounded like he was talking about restructuring Howard's contract so they are not giving him a huge salary for the next two years. I was trying to figure out the benefit of changing the terms so they are not paying it all off in huge chunks the next two years.

But I definitely agree. If they can get him in AAA and see if he can work things out of course you want to do that. If he walks, even if another team picks him up they only save the major league minimum, which is probably 500 grand or something.

 

[StanMarsh51]

What's so complicated about it? I'm suggesting a temporary rehab hitting assignment for Howard in AAA until he gets his problems at the plate worked out. If it doesn't work then there's nothing more that can be done and he'll benched/released/traded. I don't care what he gets paid or where he'll end up. But the best thing that can happen for Howard right now is to find out if he can be fixed. You can't let a guy walk if there's the smallest chance things might change for the better. Now, I know none of this will happen. It's too logical. And it would be a crime sending a mega bucks man down to play around in triple A, despite any good it might do.

Why do you think this is some temporary 'funk' that can be fixed/worked on and not a decline? Looking at it realistically, sluggers tend not to age well into their 30s. There's a long list of these guys who have steep drop-offs (whether via injury or just skills diminishing, if not both), and I don't think Howard hitting what he is hitting is all that surprising when you look at the trends.

 

[Retroram52]

The prevailing opinion we seem to have in common is that the monstrosity of a contract has painted both Howard and the organization into a corner. Because Howard's batting performance is declining with age and he needs to do something to satisfy those who believe whatever ails can be fixed to a degree that would make him productive in the mold of say Jimmy Rollins while paying him millions, the reality is what would be the best option with this contract that would free up the organization to move forward with a legitimate rebuild that Howard is now hindering.

 

[jvett77]

I was talking about the bolded paragraph in Macho Row's post. It sounded like he was talking about restructuring Howard's contract so they are not giving him a huge salary for the next two years. I was trying to figure out the benefit of changing the terms so they are not paying it all off in huge chunks the next two years.

But I definitely agree. If they can get him in AAA and see if he can work things out of course you want to do that. If he walks, even if another team picks him up they only save the major league minimum, which is probably 500 grand or something.

OK. Got it. It was those damn bifocals.

 

[WestCoastPhan]

Ha! Wow! 4 page thread about howard. Lmao!

 

[jvett77]

Why do you think this is some temporary 'funk' that can be fixed/worked on and not a decline? Looking at it realistically, sluggers tend not to age well into their 30s. There's a long list of these guys who have steep drop-offs (whether via injury or just skills diminishing, if not both), and I don't think Howard hitting what he is hitting is all that surprising when you look at the trends.

Yeah, it's a decline but why not give some rehab a shot. It just seems to me like something positive that might be tried and in the end Howard himself would have to do it. Bashing balls off of bad pitching might be a confidence booster since he might rediscover his eye for the ball and his swing at the plate.

 

[jvett77]

Ha! Wow! 4 page thread about howard. Lmao!

We gotta get the man going so we can finish two places above the basement. Maybe Booben will read and ask Howard to step into his office.

 

[Retroram52]

That would be a start jvett.