Phillies Nation

beautiful…. simply what the phillies needed

Yay! Good deal for both sides!

Well done, Ruben! Three years is perfect. It’s going to be nice to not have to go through another Howard arbitration!

I am not a huge howard fan, just because of his demands. I dont think he is worth all that much, but this is a job well done for the phils. No more record arbitration cases, and hopefully he’s happy enough to give it his all and stop swinging at all that trash he goes after.

I wonder how Geoff will like this one…

Hat Tip to Amaro and the rest of the front office. I was really skeptical but clearly the guy has made some really good moves. Nice job all the way around.

justin, since wen were cole and chase headaches? I mean sure, cole complained about his $500,000 at the beginning of last season, as well he should, he was our ace and he went out and proved it. He was never a headache over his contract

so, it is a good deal. I like howard’s power numbers. I dont dislike everything about him, but my real reason for a second comment, is there anyone left for arbitration now with the phils?

im sure the breakdown is something like 15 / 18 / 21 or something like that. there’s no way a guy like that is going to agree to 18 across the board for three years. after all, papa howard said, we’ve never seen a player like this.

Why cant we just be happy they signed him for the next three years, the deal hasn’t even been done for an hour and people are already talking about trading him. lol damn

agreed kev, i honestly don’t want to see howard go, he is a huge contributor to this offense and without him, frankly i think we’re screwed. Every year he puts up mvp numbers in run production, if he returns to .313 form or whatever it was, he’ll be an mvp for the next 3 seasons, and we’ll have 3 more rings to accompany them. with this move, i think amaro has given us a shot at winning the world series til at least ’11

wow… a stuck-up mets fan, why am i not surprised. Hey posi, why don’t you go back to ur inferior metsblog and go cry with the rest of ur kind because you all know you are now SCREWED

Wow, didnt see this coming at all. There had been virtually no indication in the media that the two sides were close to anything. It looks like Howard realized that arbitration is nasty and didnt want to ever go through that again. The Phillies at least now have gotten some cost certainty with their squad, though Im surprised they caved in. Their payroll now is set to be high for a while now and this will be the makeup for a while too. This is a large contract for a team like the Phillies and indicates that for three more years (lidge, rollins, howard, utley, ibanez, hamels, etc) the core will be intact.

Now Howard can focus on improving his fielding (desperately needed), perhaps dropping some weight and playing at a leaner weight to add more agility.

Unless some other contract is moved, dont expect them to sign an expensive reliever or to give nomar that much money. theyve gotta be tapped out after this.

I mean, Im ok with this move. Theres no real way to replace his production without trading him and getting that back in return so they were forced to at least keep him through his arb years and placate things.

They Phillies don’t have players like Carlos Beltran (always knicked up), David Wright and Jose Reyes (questionable on field attitude and fundementals)…
Well dear Mets fan Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins, Shane Victorino, Jason Werth. The Phils are deeper and healthier than the Mets, respect to David Wright but Beltran and Delgado are the decline and the Mets have poor depth in all phases of the game.

nj, great response, dont forget hamels, blanton, and all of the minor league prospects, and we got marson waiting too, and paulino is showing great promise as well

I give the off-season an A: Re-signing Cole, Ryan, Werth to multi-year deals that also includes Lidge as well as retaining great support peices in Moyer, Eyre, Park and adding serious competition for the final roster spots as well as what I think is a defining character addition in Ibanez. Have not seen a front-office do such a good job in locking-up it’s on talent in a while.

richie, agreed on the muts fan subj, lik i stated prior to this, they’re jus pissed off cuz they no they’re screwed, esp cuz they’ve choked for the past 2 yrs, but hey, they say they’ve improved their bullpen and wont choke this year, you know what, i agree. But for different reasons… they won’t even be in it this year to choke

Tyler I am over the moon happy with this off-season as a Phillies fan to the level I would be if I was a Yankees fan because I’ve seen my teams front office define the direction it’s taking the team in and execute it too a tee, questionmarks remain but the Phils are stacked in every department in the way teams like the Angels and Cubs are. The Phils are no longer just talented but have a great system in place around it to guarantee a play-off spot as well as the Yankees or Red Sox have in previous years in a very tough division.

Tim- I actually meant that to be a question to you, kind of sounds different when I forget to put that little question mark in. Oooppps.

Didn’t see this coming, but it does make sense for both sides. After the 3 years are up, I totally expect the Phillies and Howard to part ways.

everyone says they expect the phils to part ways with howard after this, but i strongly disagree. if he returns to his above .300 avg that he had in ’06 (?), then i wouldn’t be surprised to see an extension during year two of the contract. and clearly it would be well earned and beneficial to both sides if earned.

ironpigpen, i dont think any of us could have put it any better or any more concisely

I agree with you Tyler, IF Howard returns to his above .300 average I could see an extension, but the chances of that happening are about the same as the Phillies getting Cory lidle as the 5th starter(in poor taste, I know).