The Zo Zone

I think that the Phillies are wise to avoid a long term contract with Howard right now. While I think he is a great player and his numbers show it, he doesn't have a long enough track record to merit a big contract YET.

However, having said that, I think that the Phillies are being extremely short sighted. Not only is Howard a great player, he appears to be an excellent role model and a "good guy". Going to arbitration is just going to build unnecessary animosity. While it is hard to say $3 million is not a big gap, for a MLB team, I think it is a drop in the bucket to keep an cornerstone of your team happy.

They should offer $10 million before arbitration and at least start the conversation about a long term deal. They shouldn't offer him one yet, but they should listen.

After all 2011 isn't that far away and I don't see any prospects that will be ready to fill Howard's shoes.

With young major league second base prospects Brad Harman at Reading and Adrian Cardenas at Clearwater this year I can see the Phils moving Utley to first base in 2010 and moving Howard if they are unable to sign him to a long term deal a couple years prior to losing control of him after the 2011 season.

TO Josh M.

What about Travis Lee making a comeback? He could replace Howard's glove. And, as Steve D. so aptly comments, we could move Howard for some talent and put Utley at First base. After all we have two talented prospects in the minors.

That was a joke, right?

Even though the Phillies have made some bone headed personnel moves in the past, there is no way they will let a talent like Howard leave town. When it comes time they will shell out the money, whatever it takes.

Baseball is a business. I agree with Jared, he'll get his money. I don't care how pissed off anyone says he is, the right $$, be it this year, next year, whenever, will take care of that problem. If not, how about Howard to San Diego for Jake Peavy after this season?

What about a starting pitcher? No mention of it in Todd's article in today's Inquirer. Salisbury mentioned the Cards want to move Jason Marquis. He'd help out the Phils rotation. I think the Cards paid a lot of money for him though. If the Phils could get 1 more decent starter I'd feel a whole lot more confident. It looks like the Phils are going to wait and see how Kendrik and Eaton do this Spring before they make a move unless someone falls in their lap.

It's kind of boring talking about salary and arbitration topics in baseball but it's so relevent in today's game. I just hope somehow the Phils and Howard can resolve their differences and reach a compromise where both parties are somewhat happy. Howard seems to be caught in the labor agreement rules both parties settled on. He's stuck but I'd hate to see the Phils burn bridges with Howard. It'd be great if they could settle.

Hey folks, back after a long football season and starting to get excited about the upcoming Phils season again. For my first post of the year:

I love Ryan Howard, as we all do. The Philles love Ryan Howard. He may wind up being one of the greatest Phillies ever to wear the red pinstripes. So he's worth every penny he demands. However, that does not mean he should get every penny he demands, at least not right now. A contradiction? Not in the wacky world of the MLBPA collective bargaining agreement. To put it bluntly, the Phils would be stupid and irresponsible to grossly overpay Howard at this stage of his contractual life. They should and will pay him a lot of money in the next 3 years. And then, if things go as stupendously well as we all hope, they should and will sign him to an absolutely outrageously huge, maybe even record-setting, contract that will make him a Phillie for life.

Or at least until things change and he gets traded to some AL contender who needs power. By then let's hope it's 2017 and Ryan, Chase, and Jimmy have led the Phils to a couple of World Series Championships.

That scenario would make Ryan, the Phillies, and me very, very happy.

I like Howard as much as the next guy, but he's a one dimensional player. His average dropped 45 points and he set the all-time record for strikeouts. He's not A-Rod. He's not Pujols. I think his trade value will never be higher, so before this situation gets ugly why not explore trade options? The Dodgers have been looking for a power bat for years now. Would they trade Loney (1B), LaRoche (3B), and Clay Kershaw (P) for Howard? Those are three of their top prospects. The Phillies have no real talent in their farm system. These are the sort of things they should consider.

Nice work Todd, you made it into Buster Olney's blog on ESPN. "Ryan Howard is likely headed to arbitration, writes Todd Zolecki."

Let's hope Howard continues to be one of the most feared hitters in baseball. If he does not sign an extension, trade him in three years to an AL team for a load of prospects. By then, the Yankees and Red Sox will be in need of a Power Hitter. The Twins didn't want Johan Santana to re-sign with an AL club, so they traded him to the Mets. The Phillies will need to re-sign Cole Hamels in the next few years, better to re-invest in Pitching.

Anyone else feel like we won't have Howard in town for much longer?

Like 2-3 years?

The Phillies have won one championship in there existence and it took Pete Rose to do it. Do you honestly think any of us will be alive to see the next one. After all this is Philadelphia we are talking about. Phillies 1980,Sixers 1983,Flyers 1975,Eagles 1960. Enough said!

There is no way the Phils will allow Howard to leave (via trade or free agency). The public relation backlash (and season ticket errosion) would be monumental.

Howard may be asking to much now, and the Phils may now have the hammer, but at some point the pendulum will swing to his favor and the Phils will have to meet his demands.

My guess is that the Phils' plans probably are to "play ball" a year or two before Howard has can leave via free agency.

I agree with you Case, what he's being offered is more than reasonable. There are only a few select teams that can pay a player whatever he demands. Its a good argument for a salary cap.
With the Phillies, he plays half his games at CBO. He has a better chance of making it to Cooperstown if he keeps it that way.

FWB, Pete Rose didn't win the 80 World Series, he was the final piece to a great team.

The Phillies are honestly trying in my opinion. It sure beats being a Pirates, Royals, Rangers, Giants or Twins fan.

The Phils should allow Howard's contract to go to arbitration and then offer him a new contract for mucho bucks and about 5-7 years if he puts up the same numbers as he has the last two years. There is no reason to give him 10 million so soon. He can wait one more year for that big contract. No way woudl I trade him for a pitcher. They get injured too easily. I hope Santana's arm blows up this season. Giving pitchers long contracts is a big risk and I hope it blows up on the mets.

GO PHILS!!!

....and they better not be cheap if Howard has another great year. If they try to be cheap they risk pissing off Howard and frankly if I were him, I'd play out my time here and go elsewhere.

The Phillies are the losingest team in professional sports history. The saddest thing about this is that the GM's actually represent ythe same backwards thinking as the fan base.
The Eagles prosper year after year b/c Andy pays no attn to the fans and does what he has to do to win, popular or not. Judging from the morons in this space. The Phillies should trade R. Howard. I hope they do b/c this team will never recover from the mistake. This lineup does not work w/out Howard. It would take years to rebuild this franchise. Invest the money in Hamels you say, why? To watch Holistic Hamels whine and complain and refuse to pitch Gm 4 (if necessary) of a PLAYOFF gm!
You fans forget quickly, I hope this thing w/Howard gets ugly. I hope he demands a trade, I hope he pulls a T.O. and goes on to another team and wins(like T.O.) and comes back the BANK and hits a few homers, shows off a ring or two and rubs it in.

The Phillies and their fans are as classless as they come...

Truth: You kill me man! Win like Andy Reid?? If it wasn't for Garcia saving his bacon in '06, "The Gold Standard" would be out of the playoffs for the THIRD STRAIGHT YEAR! And what has T.O. won? Last time I saw him, he was crying like a woman! Pitching wins in baseball. Howard wants and deserves 8/$150m. He'll get it from Boston or New York in 2011. Until then, lighten up my man and get your facts straight. I haven't seen Andy or T.O. riding on a parade float!

Truth,
You have a lot of misplaced anger issues.

Did your parents not love you enough as a little kid? Is it that the strange man in the park did not really have a piece of candy in his pocket?

you call the phillies classless and your only rationale is the Myers incident. I think you should really be calling the City of Boston and the State of massachussetts classles not the phillies. If this happened in jersey, once the police are called on domestic violence someone always gets arrested and its then up to the state as to whether there is enough evidence for the party to be brought up on charges.

From a business standpoint, you cannot fire someone because they were arrestted and no charges were filed, they would sue you for improper termination.

And assuming you are a yankee fan, you should know how criminals help your team...sax, strawberry gooden, giambi, canseco, clemens.

"The Phillies and their fans are as classless as they come..."

And you spend all day obsessing over both of them. Guarantee you that Ryan Howard doesn't blog all day about your salary. He doesnt care.

T.O. won the division----
Andy has won the division and the conference..
Th Phillies have 10,000 loses.

You make excuses for losing and that my friend makes you a loser

Yanks paid their players, as have the Mets, where are their recent championships, Truth? Crickets.

"You make excuses for losing and that my friend makes you a loser..."

Hey killer, its a GAME and we are spectators. Does whining make you a winner? Are you that desperate in your life that you need to see a parade? You'll still be a miserable sob.

Truth, how do you know what the GM thinks?

The Phillies and their fans are classless? Based on what? How does a blogger that goes by the name of "Truth" define class?

Is spewing your nonsense the only way you can get attention? You're pathetic. I feel sorry for you.

T.O. and Reid haven't won squat. It's about the "rings" my man. Winning divisions and conferences are high school accomplishments. Pro sports is about winning Championships! Reid and T.O. haven't won a thing.

Truth, TO has only been to one Superbowl, with the Eagles. Do you have a point in bringing up TO? TO is no longer an Eagle because he had no class. He went to a team equally void of class.

Since you are master of fact checking. You should recheck a few things. If you think TO is some great winner, go look for the date of the last playoff game he was in and his team won. You also love to say the Phils are the losingest team in professional sports history. They have the most loses but not the losingest. That would be measured on winning percentage. There are more teams in sports history that have a worse winning percentage. The number of loses is only a measure of time in existance. The Braves will be the next team to hit 10k loses. DO you consider them the second worst team in sports history? I'm sure you will say they are, so what would your excuse be for the last 15 years? it is also insane for you to look at loses as the basis since it takes 10 years for a football team to play as many games in one baseball season.

Hey Truth, tell us again how the Phils won 90 games last year, and how Santana is 24 yrs old and Dominican.

What the hell will the Phillies win by signing retreads like Lohse and Benson? What will they win playing hardball with Howard? What will they win by counting on Eaton, Moyer, Kendrick or Gordon? What will they win by being cheap and defending wife beaters like Brett Myers?
Who will manage the club house w/out Rowand?
What do they win by hiring the cheapest mgr out there?

They lose 10,000 as a result of their malfeasance and your the fan base/losers agree with their actions.
Your not fans your sheep!

Ummm, they won 89 games and the NL East with the gusy you mentioned above. Unlike the Mets and their big $ signings like Glavine, Wagner, Delgado, Beltran, Pedro, etc.

Once again, you miss the most basic of facts through your tears.

Truth, aren't you a Mets fan? You're talking about the Phillies signing retreads like Benson and Lohse. The "truth" is, the Mets are probably closer to signing Lohse than the Phillies are...and while we're talking about retreads, didn't the Mets give Tom Glavine $11 million to pitch for them last year? El Dookie (yes, that was intentional)? ...and if you want to start talking about retreads in the field, Moises Alou, who is guaranteed to spend 60-70 games on the D/L? Are these guys not "retreads"?

Cheapest Manager out there? Willie "managed" to blow a 7 game lead in 17 days. He should be on YES this year doing the color for Yankees games!!!

Seriously, bro, you're a joke!

truth wouldn't signing benson or loshe mean that they are not relying on moyer, kendrick, and eaton?

explain how they are being cheap without using ryan howard as your example?

how about rollins will lead the clubhouse as he did last year.

how did they defend meyers? Last I checked they suspended him, forced him to go to counciling and there weren't even charges brought against him. Michael Vick must be your hero because all you do is beat a dead horse.

is charlie paid the least amount of money in baseball? Would you feel more confident about them winning if they gave him 10x more per year?

The 10,000 losses thing has always been a load of crap. First, no sport other than baseball plays as many games or has been around as long as baseball. So no sports team other than a baseball team could even mathematically reach that number. Second, within baseball, only teams that have been around for 100-plus years could be near that mark so it has more to do with the fact the Phillies are a 125 year old franchise. There aren't many older than that. Additionally, the bulk of the Phillies worst seasons came between 1925 and 1945. There aren't many people around who even remember those years, and this ownership group is about 3 owners removed from that era. So lets talk modern history please. In the last 35 years the Phillies have actually had a good deal of success, and I believe, a winning overall record. The Phillies aren't cheap. A $100 million-plus payroll is pretty good and it puts them in the top 10 in baseball. Howard will get his money when he becomes a free agent. That's how baseball works. The teams can keep salaries in check during a player's first 5 years and then after that the players get the advantage and THEY ALL end up getting overpayed. Please don't cry any tears for Ryan Howard. Finally, will we really want Howard after 2011? I have a feeling he will have D.H. written all over him by that point so there is a very good chance we won't end up re-signing him anyway.

The guy that calls himself the Realitic Observer...I bet you have no problem with Utley being here in 2011. Is it b/c of his race? He has played less games than Howard since Howard was called up (well past the time he should have been called.)

The Phillies and their fans are RACIST scum of the earth....
How else can you explain being against the greatest natural home run hitter of all time!!!

truth is a douchebag...anyway i'm gonna go way out in left-field here...who do you think was the biggest bust. Freddy Garcia and his one year $10 million or Carl Pavano and his 4-year 36.5 million with the yankees. And we could use these 2 former top pitchers to prove that Santana could very well end up just like them

Hey "Truth", a lot of those "racists" voted for John Street, TWICE! And, voted for Wilson Goode after burning down 4 city blocks. Take the racist non-sense down the street, it's getting old.

Yup, Truth finally nailed. Bunch of racist fans. Finally explains why everyone was booing Rollins last year. Also explains all the fans being so pissed he won the mvp last season. nothing but a bunch of racists, has to be the only answer.....

Ah, what a great blog. Hey, Zo, time to put this one to rest and start a new one.
The idiots are out again.

Can anyone tell me the last big contract FA pitcher signing that turned out well?
How about three to five that turned out well?

though I agree with you anonymous, i can atleast give you one off the top of my head. Josh Beckett with the Bosox....

Beckett was traded (along with Lowell) to Boston for Hanley Ramirez, Anibal Sanchez, and other prospects. I guess you could say the Royals signing Gil Meche last year (5/$55m) was a good pick-up. But, the Royals are still a last-place team. F/A pitchers are a gamble, the best way to acquire good arms is to draft and develop them. Zito and Jason Schmidt were absolute "busts" last year.

I can only think of FA huge contract busts. More misses than hits. Some of the smaller contracts were good but the ones over 5 years seem to turn out bad. Too bad the Phillies are to cheap and stupid and classless to not see that. (sarcasm)

Thanks, anonymous, Josh Beckett was a good signing.

I can only think of FA huge contract busts. More misses than hits. Some of the smaller contracts were good but the ones over 5 years seem to turn out bad. Too bad the Phillies are to cheap and stupid and classless to not see that. (sarcasm)

Thanks, anonymous, Josh Beckett was a good signing. Thanks too to you Chase.

Truth, are you the soup nazi??

Google it

This is the History of your Philadelphia Phillies.
Howard can not be treated fairly here let him go.....

Dick Allen, the Phillies, and Racism.

by WILLIAM C. KASHATUS

From the days of the Negro Leagues up to the present battles over merit-based excuses for the absence of blacks in management positions, baseball has long served as a barometer of the nation's racial climate. Nowhere is this more true than in Philadelphia, where the Phillies have suffered for their reputation as a racially segregated team in a racially segregated city. The case of Dick Allen is most often cited as the prime example of this inglorious history of race relations.

Allen, the first African-American superstar to don the red pinstripes, was at the center of controversy in the 1960s and mid-1970s when he played in Philadelphia. He exploded onto the scene in 1964, winning the Rookie of the Year Award for his .318 average, 29 homers, and 94 RBI. It was a performance that kept the Phillies in the pennant race for most of the summer until their infamous collapse in the final two weeks of the season. Over the next seven years Allen established himself among the ranks of the game's superstars, becoming a consistent .300 hitter and averaging 30 homers and 90 RBI a season. Those statistics, along with a 1972 MVP performance with the Chicago White Sox, earned him a hero's welcome when Allen returned to Philadelphia in 1975. Phillies management and the fans were convinced that his time away from the city had given him the maturity and experience needed to win the pennant for a budding contender. They were wrong.

While Allen's tape-measure home runs and exceptional speed gained for him the tremendous admiration of fellow players, his unexcused absences, candid opinions, and pregame beer drinking earned him some of the harshest press in the city's sports history. Through it all the specter of racial prejudice hung over Allen's relationship with the owners, the team, the press, and the city's fans. For some he was the quintessential rebel who did as he pleased when he pleased, with little regard for team rules or his teammates. For others he exemplified the emerging independence of Major League baseball players as well as growing black consciousness in the game.

The controversy has made Dick Allen the greatest player not enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Although he became eligible in 1982, his candidacy has been tainted by the scathing opinions of baseball writers like Bill James, who claims that Allen "used racism as an explosive to blow his own teams apart." James specifically cites Allen's 1965 fight with Frank Thomas, a popular white veteran who was subsequently traded, and the slugger's threat not to play in the 1976 postseason if the Phillies didn't make room on the roster for Tony Taylor, an aging Hispanic player, as examples of Allen's manipulative nature. James dismisses Allen's eligibility for the Hall on the grounds that he "did more to keep his teams from winning than anybody else who ever played major league baseball" [1]

This essay argues that Dick Allen was both a victim and a manipulator of racism on a team that had a poor history of race relations, but a team that was making an earnest effort to distance itself from that inglorious reputation during the 1960s. The tragedy of Dick Allen's relationship with the Philadelphia Phillies is that there always existed a fundamental level of distrust between the two that inevitably expressed itself--sometimes willingly, at other times quite unwittingly--in racial terms. That distrust has cost Allen a place in the Hall of Fame and the Phillies the opportunity to acquit themselves of an infamous reputation as a racist organization.

Again you nailed it Truth. I agree that everything that happened in the 60s is a fair picture of how it is today. In fact, if i recall every team in baseball welcomed players from the negro leagues with open arms. while the Phils might have been the last, i know it was only b/c they fought an fought all of the other teams to block the doors for others. i am just amazed how in tune you are to pulse of ALL of philly. in fact if the country could get rid of the only racist city, just imagine how great the country would be. i mean boston is only waiting for philly to go away so they can have unity parades up down the streets.

you are an absolute jag off and carry the thoughts that are the exact reason why there is still stereo types and racial tension in this country. as the post ablove said, where does rollins fit into your arguement. or do you just want to let that one slide by b/c it doesn't fit your point.

The treatment of Rollins was OK, a few cheers. Great!
If it was the poster child Chase the city would have erupted, you know it. There would have been billboards, endorsements from tastykake, he probably would have replaced Vermeil as the face of Independence Blue Cross.
There would be a huge poster at the "BANK"

Do you deny?

Secondly, name yourself, if you want me to respond to you.

Truth,
What is your beef with Chase Utley? The race topic is just getting old, much like your need to be a complete Phillie hater. I am amazed how much time you waste with your negativity.

Why is "Truth" such a Chase Utley hater?

Truth, you never answered my question.

truth you obviously have never driven on 95 in philly as chase utley is the spokesman for tastycake.

How can you drive while wearing a straight jacket?

Ever drive by the bank. there is a huge rollins banner that cover the whole front of the stadium. it says MVP real big with rollins pic on it. oh and they put up a huge one just like it when howard won.........

Amen to the salary cap!

My concern with ANY player asking big bucks for one year.......How much are we going to have to pay when a long-term contract is signed. Some of these guys (and their agents) are going to price themselves out of a job. Or at the least, prevent management from spending money on other players that could benefit the team.

Isn't that kind of why the Phils couldn't sign a high-profile starter?

Truth.....

What the heck are you smoking????