Ryan Howard

[whitesox04champs]

Thoughts on how he'll do this year?

Any news on arbitration pay?

[DC_Commish]

The arbitration decision has not come down yet. Hearings are scheduled over the first three weeks of February.

Howard requested $10M, and the Phillies submitted $7M. The difference was the greatest among the 48 players who exchanged arbitration proposals with their teams.

My understanding of the salary arbitration process is that the arbiters are restricted to selecting one of the two submitted bids. Can someone else please confirm this?

[GDormz]

According to the Phillies Site, DC is right on with the numbers. Howard wants 10M, they wanna give him 7. I see them settling that rather quickly. Cant they just agree on 8.5 and go on their way.

But as far as my predictions, i think he will perform much better than last year. Im thinking .276, 50 hrs, 100 RBIs, 80 Rs...

Hope this helps...

[chichpsalm]

I am in line with GDormz on how he'll do. The wild part is that we think of last year as a disappointment for him. Dunn is the Reds' best player, and not even he can match Howard's 144 OPS+ and 47 HR.

[DC_Commish]

Hearings are scheduled over the first three weeks of February.

We have an update on the timeline.

According to the Philadelphia Daily News (via ESPN), Howard's arbitration hearing is scheduled for February 20, the penultimate day of the arbitration process.

[McStallen]

I am in line with GDormz on how he'll do. The wild part is that we think of last year as a disappointment for him. Dunn is the Reds' best player, and not even he can match Howard's 144 OPS+ and 47 HR.

According to the Phillies Site, DC is right on with the numbers. Howard wants 10M, they wanna give him 7. I see them settling that rather quickly. Cant they just agree on 8.5 and go on their way.

But as far as my predictions, i think he will perform much better than last year. Im thinking .276, 50 hrs, 100 RBIs, 80 Rs...

Hope this helps...

Look, take the time to actually check Howard's stats before you start throwing numbers out there- It looks like some subsequent posters are relying on your numbers.

First, if Howard performs as you predict, and hits 50 HRs, he's going to score alot more than 80 runs and will have alot more than 100 RBIs. Even Adam Dunn, who does nothing but hit solo homeruns, cracks 100 RBIs a year.

Now you say Howard will "perform better than last year" - Well last year he had 136 RBIs and scored 94 runs. And then the year before that he scored 104 runs and had 149 RBIs. So I think you can look for him to be around 105 runs and 140 RBIs.

The big thing will be that he will have to calm down on the Ks- he set the major league strikeout record last year despite spending a stint on the DL and registering only 529 at-bats.

[Diggin4third]

Hopefully with another season under his belt, Ryan Howard will show a little more patience at the plate this season and cutback slightly on those strikeouts. His power numbers remain awesome and with more discipline he'll bring up his OBP and his BA.

[Grounded Polo]

Hopefully with another season under his belt, Ryan Howard will show a little more patience at the plate this season and cutback slightly on those strikeouts. His power numbers remain awesome and with more discipline he'll bring up his OBP and his BA.

Experience probably won't do much for Howard, he's always been like this. He struck out once every 2.96 at bats in the minors and is currently at once every 3.16 at bats in the majors. Even being blocked by Thome and spending an additional two seasons in the minors didn't change his strikeout rates. He'll always have a OBP pushing .400 though because he draws 100+ walks per season.