Phillies' GM Ruben Amaro Jr. appeared on the MLB Network Radio channel on Sirius XM Radio with host Rob Dibble and Jim Memolo today to discuss, among other things, how Ryan Howard's massive contract extension will impact decisions that need to be made about other players on the roster.
“Well, hopefully it’s a positive effect," said Amaro, "that the players understand that we’re trying to prolong our success … I’ll be specific, with guys like Jayson Werth who could potentially be free agents, you know, we’d love to keep him … We’d love to sign him back. It’s going to be my job to try to put all the pieces together. We don’t have an unlimited budget and we’re going to have to be intelligent about how we handle things but we’re hopeful that we can put all of the pieces together to continue the trend of being a contender.”
Werth is one of several Phillies that can be free agents after the season, but he's the only one that's going to cost big bucks to keep. Philadelphia does have outfielder and top prospect Domonic Brown hitting .347/.402/.667 in Double-A (82 plate appearances), so they do have a pretty good backup plan already in house.
Amaro is correct in saying that Howard's deal is a statement about how the team wants to prolong success, which is attractive to both possible free agent targets and players already on the roster. Then again, so are two consecutive National League pennants.
The only issue with Brown is that he is another left-handed bat. Werth got an opportunity because of the departure of Pat Burrell. Without Werth, there is no right-handed homerun threat in the Phillies lineup, and Dom Brown will not help that. More than likely Brown will replace Ibanez in 2012.
Keeping Howard for more than it would cost to keep the superior Werth is incredibly dumb.
are actually saying that Werth is better than Howard?
by any metric other than RBI, werth has been as good as or better than howard for the last two years. plus, werth is a plus-plus defender while howard is somewhere between average and below average. they’re both about 5 WAR players. i’d call it a wash
but it’s hard not to imagine werth aging better than howard. i’d lock up werth before howard, but neither for the kind of money howard got. you do have to place some kind of value on howard’s “face of the franchise” status, though. the fans love him and that’s got monetary value
all the while, chase utley has a sad
i do agree with what you said about the age factor. if you actually look at werth number, he is about a 270 career hitter. yes he is a plus defender but who do you fear more? that is my point in all of this.
yeah, werth is a .270 career hitter, but howard is only a .279 career hitter. werth still gets on base better than howard. howard is more of a power hitter than werth, so i fear him at the plate more (plus he has traditionally mashed the cards), but werth’s defense is so much better than howard’s at a more difficult position.
positions already filled on my team notwithstanding, i would rather have werth’s defense and OBP than howard’s monster HRs, Ks and shoddy defense
Are you actually saying he’s not?
yes, 50 hr 140 RBI every year. Won a MVP in the top 5 of MVP every year. he lost nearly 60 lbs over the past 3 years and his defense has improved each year. yes i will say that. Werth is a very good player, Howard is a superstar and elite slugger.
Jeez, here we go with RBIs again…why don’t you just argue that Howard is a better player based strictly on All-Star fan balloting? And are you saying Howard weighed 315 lbs. in 2007 (he’s listed at 255 now)?
i guess the idea of baseball is getting people across the plate in baseball correct? there is no difference between now and ten years when people were measured by that correct. i guess its something that its agree to disagree.
what i dont understand is how people on this site can discount what this guy has done over the past 4 years. all he does is put 50 home runs and drive in 140 people has an OBP of .375. the only knock on him is his strikeouts. you mention the all star balloting, but you wouldnt discount the fact the pujols won that award. the truth of the matter is this guy is one who can carry a team which he has done. he is a special player on a special team.
i’m a cardinals’ fan and i would absolutely discount pujols’ MVPs and all star selections when evaluating how good of a player he is. i don’t need the BBWAA or fans to tell me how good of a player pujols is because i can look at his numbers and watch him myself. and it’s not like the MVP, etc., always goes to the most deserving player, *cough* 2006 *cough*
the same applies for howard and werth, i can do the same. and the overall numbers are very similar.
as for howard’s .373 career OBP, it’s inflated by his ’06 numbers. the last two years, he was sitting at about league average (.339) and pretty good (.360). werth was .363 and .373 the last two years.
RBI’s come from the lineup around you. He has great protection in the lineup also. He’s not an “elite slugger”. An elite slugger will bat upwards of .300 and also post superior on-base skills. Pujols, Cabrera, they’re elite sluggers.
I would agree if thats what hes saying…Werth is younger, better at defense and can steal a few bases…put him in the 4 spot and he can get about the same rbi numbers as howard. By the time the contract of howard expires hes gonna be 36? he already strikes out a load, as he gets older his bat speed will slow and he will come close to mark reynolds strikeout territory.
I’d rather base a team around Ryan Howard from The Office than the one from the Phillies. Though they are both based in Pennsylvania…
“We’ve strategically taken our World Series revenue and used it to make life ridiculously difficult for the Brewers and Cardinals. Sure it’s not fiscally sound, but that mushroom cloud over the midwest is preeeeetty funny.”
I like the Ryan Howard contract. It’s stolen the “ridiculous” label from the Holliday deal.
/nk
Do you think Adam Dunn is worth 25 million? Howard and Dunn are about the same player. If your making 25 million you had better be posting close to a 1.000 OPS.
no one was saying anything when he signed the original deal for 20 million a year as far as i am concerned there is no difference between 20 and 25. i applaud the phils for doing that. they realize that this special times right now with this core group and they are rewarding the players and allowing them to have this run for as long as they can. Howard doesnt have any barring on it. They have close to 50 million coming off in 2011 so if werth takes a semi back loaded contract they will be able to retain him.
You know what would help the Phillies afford Jayson Werth even more than giving stupid money to Ryan Howard? Not giving stupid money to Ryan Howard.
I wish people would stop being so critical and see how it plays out. What if Prince and AGonz get 25+ in 2012, and Pujols gets 30+? Is it a good signing then? Would you rather have A-Gonz and Fielder over Howard? I wouldn’t personally, but that’s up to you. If the Phillies would have let Howard walk, people in baseball would have been all over them. If the Yankees or Sox made this deal, it would be considered a win.
It will not restrict signing Werth, Ibanez’s contract already does that…along with Lidge’s. If they can resign Werth, it will have be a backloaded deal for when Ibanez and Lidge come off the books…but with the way Werth is playing right now (2 HRs and 6 RBIs in the last two games) it’s tough to justify a 4 year deal 15+ Mill…and that might just be too much for the Phillies unfortunately.
“Would you rather have A-Gonz and Fielder over Howard?”
yes
“If the Yankees or Sox made this deal, it would be considered a win.”
nah. it would still be among the worst contracts in baseball
“but with the way Werth is playing right now”
.354/.417/.657
right…..
I meant “not” to justify a 15+ million dollar deal, my bad typo.
Also, I said personally, I’d rather have Howard. We’ll see how it turns out, but it’s not like Howard doesn’t deserve this money. If the Phillies didn’t shell out this money, someone else would have, and possibly even more…so it’s however you want to look at, either pay the man or face him..I’m glad Amaro chose to sign him. And as a Phillies fan, that is all that matters, the rest of media and fans can continue to bash the signing as much as they want; but Philly is happy to have him through 2016.
Also, there is no way the payroll doesn’t go up to 150 for next year IMO. That is IF they make it back to the series…so Werth should be here, but again, baseball is a business and this is Werth’s big chance for a big payday, so we’ll see how bad he wants to be in Philly or if goes I’m thinking it will be to the Whitesox, Redsox, or Yanks….just my guess.
why would you take you Agon/Fielder over Howard minus the contract? Try to explain this to me? i will be open minded about that
AGon- Has almost the same level of production—in a HUGE pitcher’s park. Has outperformed Howard in any offensive metric that’s park adjusted, which is a huge deal when a hitter is playing in Petco. Also younger.
Fielder- Same skillset as Howard, but 4 years younger.
your a very reasonable person about this whole contract thing. i am being extremely serious when i say that.