Ryan Howard can never argue that Philadelphia Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. has not been honest with him.
After trading shortstop Jimmy Rollins to the Los Angeles Dodgers, Amaro told 97.5 The Fanatic’s Mike Missanelli that the Phillies are trying to move Howard next. In fact, Amaro says he told Howard that the team is better off without him.
“We’ve talked to Ryan,” Amaro said, as transcribed by Matt Lombardo of NJ.com. “And I told him that in our situation it would probably bode better for the organization not with him but without him. With that said if he’s with us, then we’ll work around him. We’ll hope he puts up the kind of numbers that we hope he can and we’ll see where it goes from there.”
Apparently there is no need for sugarcoating anymore.
Howard, 35, has one of the worst contracts in baseball. He is still owed $60 million —- including a $10 million buyout in 2017 — over the next two seasons after signing a five-year, $125 million extension in 2012. The slugging first baseman has hit just .236 since signing the new deal.
After appearing in just 151 games between 2012 and 2013, Howard played in 153 last season. While his power numbers were good (23 home runs and 95 RBI), he still hit just .223. No one wants to take on $60 million for a 35-year-old who rarely gets on base, but Amaro says releasing Howard is not an option.
“No ones going to release Ryan Howard,” he said. “That’s not going to happen. Ryan Howard is too productive and too important a player to just release. You just don’t do that with a player like that. But, we don’t have any designs on doing that.”
Howard is so “important” that Amaro has openly told him the Phillies would be better if he wasn’t on their roster. When fans start tossing this insult your way, you know you have gone downhill in a hurry.
