Ryan Howard gets a huge raise

[swyck]

He will earn $900,000 this season,
which is the largest salary paid to a player with less than two
years service time, trumping the $690,000 earned by Cubs pitcher Kerry Wood in 2002.

It looks to me like no one makes any money at this point in their careers. At least the Phils gave him a raise. They didn't have to do that and most other teams wouldn't have. They're also trying to work out a long term deal.

MCab earned all of $420k last year.

[abrunn11]

Apparently Grady Sizemore does. Look at what he got after his first year starting the the bigs. This is a complete insult to Howard. A classless move by a terrible orginization.

[Another Blown Save]

This is still pretty good for a player who's not eligible for Arbitration yet.

I mean, Albert Pujols was the only guy who got paid 900K before arbitration.

[seniorpaul]

This is actually the EXACT same amount that Pujols was being paid at the same point in his career, and it's the highest amount that any 2nd year american player has ever recieved.

[swyck]

Apparently Grady Sizemore does. Look at what he got after his first year starting the the bigs. This is a complete insult to Howard. A classless move by a terrible orginization.

Phils did more then most would, and they didnt have to do anything. What were Pujols and Cabrera earning at this stage of their careers?

If they hadn't given him a raise it wouldn't even be in the news because it wouldn't be news, he'd be making a 3rd of what he's making now, and you wouldn't be saying anything.

[Amazinz]

A comparison to Pujols at a similar point in their careers doesn't really work because baseball contracts have risen substantially since then. I don't really think this was bad or an unfair offer. I just thought that it would behoove the Phillies to buy out the arb years as soon as possible.