BREAKING: Phillies, Howard agree to 3 year/$54 million deal.

So this seems like it is essentially a concession to Howard’s demand for $18 million next year, though I am assuming that the deal is backloaded — which means he will make more than $18 million over the last two years of the deal.

On a completely unstatistical and purely psychological level, It will be interesting to see what avoiding arbitration does for Howard’s performance over the next few years.

What a surprising development.

1. Who knew we could get this excited in the offseason about resigning our own players?
2. Amaro’s got a knack for these negotiations, eh?

I’m pretty impressed with this. They’ve locked up their most dangerous hitter at a reasonable price, given his leverage, (only) through his age-31 season, without doing any more damage to his tradability (I’m guessing there isn’t a no-trade clause). Arguably a best-of-all-worlds outcome.

Nicely done, Ruben.

according to the espn article: ESPN Howard will earn $15 million this season, $19 million next year and $20 million in 2011.

It’s about the way the ball carries at Citi Field.

http://www.ballparkdigest.com/rss/index.html?article_id=952

Glad to have this situation resolved for the next few years. This yearly dog and pony show was not something I looked forward to.

well played ruby.
this is great news all around, it shows other players that the phils will take of you if you perform. i love how it locks him up through the rest of his arbitration years, and keeps our core intact and happy at the same time.

I’d say the only mistake Ruben made this offseason was the Burrell situation. I’m pleasantly surprised.

I’m still not a fan overall, but I have to admit he seems to do at least two things well: keep things positive with his negotiating partners (maybe that’s easier after a title, but still), and reach well considered deals with his in-house talent. That’s not a bad couple of core skills for a GM.

Count me as someone who does not like this deal. I like Howard very much, but the Phils do what they do best, give away their advantage. Against one of the strongest unions in the US, baseball has few advantages. One of them is arbitration. The ability to give a series of 6 one year deals to an emergine player has significant benefits. I was critical for them buying out Utley’s arb years at a premium, but that was better than this because at least you got post arb years at a price you feel like you can manage.

The Phils gave up 3 2 year deals for what, to pay Howard at a premium for a declining body fo work? This isn’t locking him up at 10 mil a year. This is one of the riches per year contracts in all of baseball. If you were doing it to make him happy, why? You have him for 3 more years. Happiness only comes into play when he is a free agent. This deal is 9 million too much. 3 years at 15 per would be decent. Howard hedges against him imploding more and the Phils know they won’t have to go to arb with him at all.

I don’t mind players getting paid. I do mind my organization just caving in.

I “like” this deal. It’s hard to absolutely love any deal that involves these kinds of yearly salaries (the fans will be a little more vocal if he comes out of the gates hitting sub .200 in April).

However, I think that the difference between the 54 million he is now guaranteed and the amount he could have earned in arbitration will be close enough that the cost certainty alone makes it worthwhile.

p.s. I think Howard would have been crazy to sign for 3 years, 45 million when he was already guaranteed at least 14 for this year.

Howard wanted 18 million in arbitration

He averages 18 million over the next 3 years

Guys with his body type don’t exactly age well – and he got a late start

Tell me again how this is a ‘win’ for the Phillies? I haven’t read many ‘unbiased’ (i.e. no grudge on either side) writers who think this is a good or smart move for the phillies.