I’ll try to stay as impartial in this blog entry as possible. I should include the caveat that I have loved Ryan Howard for several years now, though. The Phillies signed the first baseman in 2001, and he was called up in September of 2004 at the age of 24.
It’s difficult to argue with Howard’s successful career thus far. In 2005, he was named Rookie of the Year. In 2006, he was MLB Player of the Year, National League MVP, played in the All-Star Game, and won the Home Run Derby, the Hank Aaron Award, and a Silver Slugger Award. In 2008, Howard helped lead the Phillies to a World Series win. In 2009, he returned to the All-Star Game and earned the NLCS MVP award. While Ryan’s defense hasn’t been stellar in the past, it seems to be improving. Offensively speaking, his career batting average is .279.
It seems that a lot of people find fault with Howard’s performance during the 2010 season. The truth is, six of the eight starters posted batting averages in 2010 that were lower than their career averages. Howard, one of the six, batted .276 last season. We saw a monumental offensive slump in the middle of the ’10 season, and Ryan Howard essentially carried the lineup through it.
The biggest element of Ryan’s 2010 season that we need to remember is that he injured himself in August. He missed nineteen games due to his sprained ankle, and had a season total of 550 at bats. Mathematically speaking, his 31 homeruns in 2010 would have been 35 and his 108 RBIs would have been 122. While we’ll never know what could have been, I’d say that those numbers could have been even higher. Anyone who follows Phillies baseball knows that Ryan Howard’s offense heats up in August and September.
There are some fans who argue that Howard is responsible for the Phils’ NLCS loss to the Giants. Everyone remembers that he was the last at the plate, and he struck out looking. What some people seem to forget is that he batted .273 in the NLDS and .318 in the NLCS. Not to mention, it could be argued that the Phillies might never have made it to the post-season if Howard hadn’t contributed in the regular season the way that he had.
People also find issue with Howard’s enormous salary. I’ll agree that his contract surprised me, and $125 million over five years is pretty steep. That being said, he’s hardly the only player in Major League Baseball to be earning a ridiculous amount of money. The bottom line is that Ryan Howard doesn’t deserve the constant criticism that he receives. He’s a power hitter; he bats clean-up for a reason. He’s not paid for his defense. Strikeouts are also part of the power hitter’s package. To me, all the runs that Howard produces are far more important than his number of strikeouts. If the Phillies weren’t paying Ryan Howard his huge salary, I tend to think several other clubs would be willing to. Our favorite team simply wouldn’t be the same without him.
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