Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. spoke with 97.5 The Fanatic's Mike Missanelli Friday afternoon to discuss the Rollins trade to the Los Angeles Dodgers, as well as other pertinent issues relating to the club. One of the topics of discussion was Ryan Howard, who the team has been active this offseason in trying to trade away.
Generally, when a member of the front office goes on an interview, they will try to portray information in such a way to not affect either positively or negatively potential transactions down the line, and especially relationships with the player and other clubs. Speaking to Missanelli about Howard, Amaro Jr. held nothing back in stating his motives to find a new home for the former NL (2006) and NLCS (2009) MVP this offseason:
"We've talked to Ryan, and I told him that in our situation it would probably bode better for the organization [to be] 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."
Matt Lombardo (@MattLombardo975) writes,
Moving Howard could prove to be a tall order given the remaining $73 million remaining on his contract. If Amaro is in fact serious about a trade, the Phillies would be wise to find a suitor sooner, rather than later, regardless of the potential return. Howard is closing in on full 10 and 5 rights that would kick in this May which would give him veto power on any deal.
Ryan Howard, 35, has three years left on his contract, with the third in 2017 being a $23 million team option or a $10 million buyout. He will earn $25 million in both 2015 and 2016, and trading him away would require the Phillies to eat a huge portion of that remaining salary. Howard already has the right to veto a trade to 20 teams due to him having a limited no-trade clause, before his full 10 and 5 rights even come into effect.
Amaro further said to Missanelli that he will not consider just releasing Howard outright:
"No ones going to release Ryan Howard. 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."
It is unfortunate that the once revered slugger in the middle of the Phillies' lineup, who was a huge contributor in the 2007-2011 playoff window, is now looked at in a completely reversed manner. I would not be surprised if Howard remains in Philadelphia for his 12th season in 2015 due to the nature of his poor market value.
Matt Rappa (@mattrappa) is a contributor to Philliedelphia.com.
