Larry Bowa thinks Ryan Howard ‘can help somebody’

By Tim Kelly, Sports Talk Philly editor

Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports did a tremendous piece on former Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard that discusses some of the challenges that Howard has faced in his first ever free-agency, especially given that there's no guarantee his first stint as a free-agent will end with him signing with a club and not retirement.

In the piece, Phillies bench coach Larry Bowa spoke positively of Howard, suggesting that he believes that Howard is worth taking a flyer on:

“I definitely think he can help somebody,” said Phillies bench coach Larry Bowa, who is not known to sugarcoat his opinions.

Howard's biggest problem is that the way that he can help teams at this point in his career — which is providing occasional streaks of power and/or the ability to change a game late with one swing — isn't what teams are looking for in February. At this time of the year, teams are looking for players who have the chance to be valuable for their club for as many days of the week as possible and could potentially turn into pieces they could flip at the league's non-waiver trade deadline. Howard doesn't fall into either of those categories.

It was perhaps most telling that when the Phillies were essentially willing to give Howard away after the non-waiver trade deadline, he wasn't moved. There probably was a feeling from some in the organization that it was best to have Howard finish his season (and maybe his career) with the Phillies, but they probably wouldn't have opposed moving him to a contending situation. And Howard probably wouldn't have stopped any potential trades, despite having 10-and-5 rights. The team reportedly 'got feelers' on Howard in August, but no trade ever seemed to be imminent.

If no American League team was seriously interested in having Howard as a bench piece that could potentially change a playoff series late last year, it's seems unlikely that they would want to have Howard on their roster for an entire season. Even the idea of having Howard on the roster as someone who could DH against right-handed hitters a few times a week if he were to get hot seems like too much of a niche position, especially when you consider that Chris Carter, Brandon Moss, Pedro Alvarez and Mike Napoli are all still free-agents.

Some of Rosenthal's story discusses how professionally Howard handled himself through a rough transition from being a superstar to being a platoon player, so maybe out of respect a team will sign Howard to a minor league deal and invite him to Spring Training. Even in that scenario, which I would bet against happening at this point, it seems unlikely that Howard will make an Opening Day roster.

What Howard would do if he were to not make a team's Opening Day roster would be interesting. He could accept a minor league role with the understanding that if he gets hot a team may become interested, though it would be understandable if the 37-year-old wouldn't be interested in swallowing his pride to do that.