When Ryan Howard comes back on Friday....

[CBMGreatOne]

I just have to resurrect this thread. It looks like the naysayers might just be proven wrong after all. I was higher on him than most entering the season, but he was drafted #2 overall in my league. At the beginning of the season, I was glad I didn't have the misfortune of making the wrong choice between he and ARod (ARod was a no-brainer for me because Howard was gone).

Now, though he certainly won't surpass ARod, I don't see any reason why he can't crack the top 5 after all. He is absolutely killing it right now. Over the last few weeks I've been checking back to see how he's creeping up the rankings and quite frankly, I wouldn't be shocked in the least to see him live up to his ADP.

I didn't get him in my important leagues, but I'm happy to see that I may have been right to be pretty high on him entering the season.

[CBMGreatOne]

Doggone it, I accidentally double posted. But I will take this opportunity to point out that in my OPS league, he's arguably already top 10. He could easily get to top 5 with a couple more months of this.

[Snakes Gould]

I see Howard hitting 25-30 Hr....

This is easily the worst projection i've ever seen. He hit 22 as a rookie in limited time and 51 last year. He also showed significant power at the minor league levels (hitting 37 hrs in '04 at AA). Beltre never showed the same power as howard in the minors and until he hit 48 was averaging about 20 a year. I say he hits at least 30 this year even with the injury and still has a chance to break 40. He'll probably finish somewhere in the mid to high 30s...

he hit 58... and allstar was wrong, pretty much like he always is

[BJSFAN123]

good thing I held on to him and didn't trade him away, he has been unbelievable since coming off the dl.

[Yoda]

en fuego...

[Snakes Gould]

or simply back to normal/healthy

[jdsun1]

or simply back to normal/healthy

stats are now inline with his splits from his past season and a half, however he still killed my h2h league team.

[Dan Lambskin]

S-T-U-D

[Yoda]

or simply back to normal/healthy

I think the injury was really hampering him earlier in the season. I had my doubts on him following up on his monster season but he is proving me wrong so far. I won't be betting against him for a few years.

[interchange]

Anyone think Howard may come back to win the MVP? He's been monstrous lately and quickly pulling that average back up.