Comments on: Ryan Howard takes first round of live batting practice

By: phillyfanmatt

phillyfanmatt — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 23:29:11 +0000

But I do appreciate the facts you posted thanks for sharing.

By: phillyfanmatt

phillyfanmatt — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 23:28:13 +0000

Key word in what you said is SHOULD be a platoon guy. But given the facts that he currently is not a platoon guy calling him one is what I am talking about.

By: paperlions

paperlions — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 16:13:39 +0000

Those are simply facts. A wRC+ below 90 (for any split) is horrible for a 1B. Ryan Howard can not hit left handers, ergo, by definition, he should be a platoon player.

It may be the thing you least wanted to read that was true, or the thing you’ve read with which you most disagree, but it is most certainly not the dumbest thing you’ve ever read.

By: bjavie

bjavie — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 16:10:20 +0000

That’s got to be the dumbest thing I have ever read.

By: paperlions

paperlions — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 14:03:22 +0000

I too hope he comes back healthy…the world is better when there are more great baseball players doing incredible things. I don’t think I ever judge Howard himself, he’s a class act, very nice guy, does a bunch of charity and stuff with kids. I’m just providing facts about his baseball performance in the proper context.

I don’t think he will cease being a prime example of an over-paid player any time soon (it just isn’t realistic to expect him to live up to a $20-25M salary at this given his age and career trajectory….but he will be replaced as the primary example by Pujols in about 5 years.

Being plus war isn’t particularly good…and average regular is a 2 war player.

By: Jonny 5

Jonny 5 — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 13:33:02 +0000

The last two seasons of Howard fighting injuries have made him a very easy target as his positives are barely outweighing his negatives anymore. He’s still a + War player despite the injuries that have plagued him and I just hope he gets back on track very soon so he can cease being the prime example of an overpaid 1st baseman.

By: paperlions

paperlions — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 12:44:35 +0000

That line is not very good for an offense only 1B.

I know people love to say his defense has improved. It hasn’t. He was a slightly below average defender for a few years, the last 2 years have been his worst defensively. As he ages, that will just keep getting worse.

He has been among the worst base runners in the league his entire career, and that is getting worse, too.

Among qualified 1B last year, he ranked 11th in wRC+ out of 24 guys. First base is a sluggers position, what he did offensively last year was average for his position. He’s been in a fairly steady decline since his awesome year in 2006. That $125M over the next 5 years is going to be very lucky if it pays for average 1B production.

By: paperlions

paperlions — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 12:37:55 +0000

Let’s investigate:

Howards wRC+ versus lefties starting in 2005:

-1 (I don’t recall ever seeing a negative WRC+ before, this comes with an OBP of .175 and a SLG of .246, not a lot of ABs though)

126 (good)
105 (good enough)
88 (not good)
70 (horrible)
120 (good)
74 (horrible)

So he’s been a platoon player (one only capable against right handers) pretty much since 2008.

By: phillyfanmatt

phillyfanmatt — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 04:54:09 +0000

Since when has Ryan Howard ever been a platoon guy. Except when he has been out because of injury and not including the 19 games he played when first called up and the 88 he played the year he won rookie of the year. He has played in 920 games in his 6 FULL seasons or an avg of 153 games a season. That means he sits out an avg of 9 games a year. I guess that’s the definition of a platoon guy. What a moron some people are.

By: Drew Silva

Drew Silva — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 03:55:39 +0000

And he now regrets the lack of snark in it.

By: dondada10

dondada10 — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 03:52:15 +0000

Wait, Drew Silva wrote this piece.

By: ame123

ame123 — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 03:41:03 +0000

Platoon guy that leads all of baseball in HRs and RBIs since coming up.

By: oasiserfede

oasiserfede — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 03:02:29 +0000

20, 20, 25, 25 and 25 million for a platoon guy……..yup, it’s still funny.

By: dondada10

dondada10 — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 01:49:17 +0000

I wouldn’t be surprised if Howard’s return is closer to early May than late May.

The NL East is a lot tougher than it was last year.

By: kandh2004

kandh2004 — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 01:44:02 +0000

Man that batting line sucks right Craig