Howard signs 3 year contract with Phillies - $54 million

[Patrick425]

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3892759

 

When was Howard eligible for free agency before this contract?

[apirk]

They just bought all his arbitration years, no FA years

[BrewCrewForever]

No free agent years, bust still not bad to buy out all the arby years and not have the headache of possibly going to more hearings with Ryan. Now he can just focus on baseball.

[Point Beer Is Best]

Didn't he win a $10MM arbitration case last year? If so, this deal does buy out one year of free agency, unless I'm missing something.

 

EDIT: Nevermind, the article says he wouldn't have been a free agent until after 2011, because he has less than 4 years of service time.

[DHonks]

I hope that one day Prince can be the player that Howard is. But after knowing Howard, there's no chip on his shoulder. He's just a fun guy out doing what he enjoys. Prince needs to learn that, along with how to lose weight. Howard's much taller than Prince and built much more muscularly. He's also much more athletic.

[endaround]

I hope that one day Prince can be the player that Howard is. But after knowing Howard, there's no chip on his shoulder. He's just a fun guy out doing what he enjoys. Prince needs to learn that, along with how to lose weight. Howard's much taller than Prince and built much more muscularly. He's also much more athletic.

 

Ryan Howard demanded a trade as a minor leaguer. Not sure why you think there is no chip there.

[DHonks]

Ryan Howard demanded a trade as a minor leaguer because the Phillies went out of their way to block him in Philly. Frankly, there's a reason top talents normally don't hit 40 homers a year in AAA--they get called up! It would be like if we had Prince in AAA and then went out and signed Teixeira for 6 years. That's what the Phillies did with Thome

[rluzinski]

Physically, Prince is what he is. Everyone knew that his build could result in him having a relatively short career. He's short and has a huge father. In terms of present value, Price and Howard are close to equal.

[ILuvDaBush]

If/when Prince goes out and knocks another 50HR, I hope we extend him at a contract much like this (on top of his current deal, that would buy up 2 years of FA). I don't know if Satan would allow that, but it would line his pockets well and keep Prince happy. And a happy Prince is a happy clubhouse (not that an unhappy Prince is an unhappy clubhouse...)

[BrewCrewForever]

I remember that Howard/Thome/Phillies situation. That seemed like a real mess.

[kramnoj]

I hope that one day Prince can be the player that Howard is.

 

Fielder has been a etter hitter than Howard the last two years.

[logan82]

I hope that one day Prince can be the player that Howard is.

 

Fielder has been a etter hitter than Howard the last two years.

True, but he isn't nearly as bad defensively. He isn't good, but he is good enough to make them roughly equal overall.($31.2M/Howard - $32.9M/Fielder)

[kramnoj]

The point made was that the poster wished Fielder was the player that Howard is. At this point, that's an inferior player making more money.

[Invader3K]

If/when Prince goes out and knocks another 50HR, I hope we extend him at a contract much like this (on top of his current deal, that would buy up 2 years of FA). I don't know if Satan would allow that, but it would line his pockets well and keep Prince happy. And a happy Prince is a happy clubhouse (not that an unhappy Prince is an unhappy clubhouse...)

The problem is that if he does have another 50HR season, his value will be through the roof and the Brewers might not even be able to afford his final year of arbitration.

[logan82]

The point made was that the poster wished Fielder was the player that Howard is. At this point, that's an inferior player making more money.

Right, and I said they were roughly equal over the last 2 years when you include defense.

[Blancofan1]

Not to get off of the Prince vs Howard discussion but I have a totally different question.

I recall hearing last summer that voters for the MVP and CY Young awards had come out and said that they wouldn't vote for a player if he would make money on the deal. I'm not 100% sure if I heard this correctly or not or if it was just some of the voters, but at the time I really thought it made sense. Now everything that I've read about Howard's new contract talks about 1 million or 500K bonuses for finishing 1st or 2nd in the MVP voting. Does anyone else remember hearing about the claim from voters, or is this just some random thing that I am not remembering correctly?

[kramnoj]

Some reporters are not allowed to vote on awards, because it influences what they cover (The NY Times, IIRC, maybe others). I believe other reporters have written or said they are uncomfortable with the idea, especially as the bonuses get larger.

[Baldkin]

Someone (I forget who) had a clause where they got a bonus if they received even 1 vote for MVP or CY Young, and a big stink was made.

 

I believe that's what you're referring to.

 

I can't imagine voters not voting for a guy who has a clause in for winning.

[logan82]

Worrying about what a player will be paid is only slightly sillier than some of the other criteria that writers use to explain their voting.

[Oldcity]

I don't see why the Phillies would do this. He's probably not worth three years 54 mil as is. He's regressed each of the past two seasons and is as bad as Fielder at first base. They're no longer protecting themselves against injury, and it's not even like they got a discount.

[Patrick425]

Didn't he win a $10MM arbitration case last year? If so, this deal does buy out one year of free agency, unless I'm missing something.

 

EDIT: Nevermind, the article says he wouldn't have been a free agent until after 2011, because he has less than 4 years of service time.

I still don't get this. So some players have 4 years of arbitration?

[PeaveyFury]

Yes, the top players that have less than 3 years of service time qualify as 'super two' players that get a 4th year of arbitration.

 

That's way overly simplified, but more or less the gist.

[Patrick425]

At what point is a player designated as a top player who gets 'super two' status? Does this mean that after 2 years (or maybe 2+) of service they are eligible for arby? I would have thought that Fielder would have qualified for this, but it does not appear that he did.

[Crewin06]

Basically its players with the most playing time in the 2nd year class. Its to give early free agency to players that pretty much spent the whole year in the major league level but not quite the whole year. Normally the system would make them play almost 4 years at the minimum then 3 arby years instead they play almost 3 years at the minimum and get 4 arby years.

 

Ryan Braun if he didn't sign his extension would have been the perfect example.

 

He got called up in the last week of May, just on the fringe between super 2 and a regular. He would have been under the Brewers control regardless for 6.5 years unless traded or released, if he would have been labeled a super 2 by the league based on service time, arbitration would have started in the 2009/2010 offseason if he would have been labeled regular his arbitration would have started in 2010/2011 offseason. His contract actually has a provision in it that if he is labeled a super 2 he gets paid about $8 million more over the life of the contract.

 

As for Howard, I believe he went to college then was forced to play a year at every level of the minors in spite of putting up good stats at ever level. He didn't play his first full season in the majors until he was 26.

[kramnoj]

According to Cot's Braun could earn an additional $6M if he would qualify as a Super-2.

 

Super 2 makes sense, because otherwise teams could get almost 7 years of service time from a player, and get close to 4 years of service at the minimum rate.