CLEARWATER, Fla. -- After the Phillies' daily workout, and after taking extra batting practice in the indoor cage, Ryan Howard addressed the media about his big payday.Well, sort of.
On the day he became a multi, multi, multimillionaire, Howard didn't say much about his arbitration victory over the Phillies. Asked how he was going to celebrate, he said he was planning to work out at the gym. Asked what his first purchase would be, he said he wasn't sure (Jimmy Rollins said Howard has had his eye on an Aston Martin DB9, the car that James Bond drives).
And when it came to the real issues, like whether he thinks he eventually will agree to a long-term deal with the Phillies or how involved his father, Ron, gets in these or any negotations, Howard reverted to that disarming humor that helps him to avoid questions. To wit: Asked to respond to speculation that he's looking for a more lucrative multiyear deal than the seven-year, $100 million contract that Albert Pujols signed in 2004, Howard said, "There's talk out there? Well, you've got to tell me who's talking. Right now, I don't know if that's a fair question to ask because these speculators are not here at the present moment in time."
Not very informative, is it?
Time for me to parse more of Howard's answers and write for the 50-center. For now, though, I'll ask this: If you were the Phillies, how many years and how much money would you give Howard, a big-bodied slugger who will be 32 by the time he becomes a free agent in 2011? Talk amongst yourselves. More from me later.
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In the absence of real details, maybe this is how the arbitration hearing went down?
1 comment:
If I were the Phillies, at this time, you can't go any higher than Pujols's contract. Granted, revenues are higher, the Phillies are making a lot of money, etc., etc., but Howard just isn't as good a player as Pujols. He's in the tier slightly beneath him, and I think a contract of a hundred million dollars is a pretty fair offer. Once he hits free agency, anything goes, but if he's expecting an offer better than that (especially during his arbitration years, ESPECIALLY with this ownership), he's just setting himself up to be upset later on.
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