Last week, former Philadelphia Phillies' manager and current team advisor Dallas Green suggested that he believed it was time for the Phillies and Ryan Howard to part ways. As I noted at that time, if it was as simple as Howard being traded to an American League team and serving as their DH, the Phillies would have traded the former National League MVP years ago.
Howard is going to begin the season with the Phillies. General manager Matt Klentak spoke this off-season about how much he 'respects' the accomplishments of Howard, and seemed adamant about making Howard feel welcome in what will likely be the final season he plays for the club. While the team certainly would have listened to any trade offers for Howard this off-season, it doesn't appear that they got any, and releasing Howard doesn't seem to have been an option in Klentak's mind. Don't expect it to become one, either.
All that said, 2016 may represent the most realistic chance of Howard getting traded in his tenure with the Phillies.
Yes, Howard will still make $25 million in 2016, but unlike previous seasons, there isn't another season(s) of him making that much after. Howard does have a $23 million club option for 2017, but there isn't even a proper analogy to point out how unlikely it is that the Phillies pick that up.
Howard does have a partial no-trade clause that Spotrac says allows him to block trades to 21 teams. The nine teams that he can't block trades to are the Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Angels, New York Yankees, Seattle Mariners, Tampa Bay Rays and Texas Rangers. It isn't a coincidence that all of those teams are American League teams.
At this point, Howard's no-trade clause is actually more symbolic than anything. Howard has 10-and-5 rights, so he can actually block a trade to any team, but players who don't normally want to be traded usually block the teams they think could realistically acquire them. Howard has done the opposite, even if it is only symbolic. This could mean that facilitating a trade for him this summer could be relatively easy.
Of course, saying moving him 'could be relatively easy' is relative. The Phillies will have to eat pretty much all of the money left on Howard's deal in 2016 to facilitate a deal, while also probably sending $10 million to the acquiring team to cover the buy-out of his 2017 option. In addition, the Phillies would be looking at getting the warmest body possible in return, in all likelihood.
Any Howard trade is also contingent on Howard performing well around the deadline. In 2015, some speculated that Howard could garner some trade interest when he hit .280 with six home runs in May. Howard, though he would hit .253 with five home runs in July, effectively killed that speculation when he followed up his impressive month of May by batting .189 in June. It may be too much to ask for at this point in his career, but if Howard was able to hit .265 in June and July, while also displaying what's left of his power, he would probably garner some trade interest.
So there's a lot of moving parts in a potential Howard trade, but the parts are fairly cut and dry. Howard would have to agree to a trade, but he seems likely to do so. The Phillies would have to agree to essentially pay for Howard to play for another team, but they probably would be willing to do so. And either Howard will perform well enough to be dealt, or he'll finish 2016 with the Phillies.
Phillies nuggets
- I think I'd rather see the Phillies don their green St. Patrick's day jerseys in a regular season game that their new extremely red Spring Training jerseys, which will be worn during certain Businessperson's Special's in 2016.
- Since 2012, Marlon Byrd has played for the Chicago Cubs, Boston Red Sox, New York Mets, Pittsburgh Pirates, Phillies, Cincinnati Reds and San Francisco Giants. He also served a PED suspension in that span. It's pretty hard to believe someone who has changed locations that many times, and has had a fairly successful career by most standards, is interested in once again potentially changing locations, by signing a minor-league deal with the Cleveland Indians. It goes to show that even in his late-30's, Byrd is still hungry to continue his career.
- From afar, the Adam LaRoche saga is interesting. While I generally don't disagree with the Chicago White Sox organization asking him not to bring his 14-year-old son around the team as much, if Comcast SportsNet Chicago's David Kaplan was right in his report that one of the conditions of Laroche signing with the White Sox was that his son was going to be allowed around the team, then the White Sox made their own bed. Now they won't be left sleeping in that bed, but they will be left paying $13 million for that bed, while reportedly upsetting a majority of their players.
- This is actually this week's second edition of "Phillies nuggets". Check out the first one, which discusses how the Phillies and Mets could match up on a trade for an outfielder.
Tim Kelly (@TimKellySports) is the Managing Editor of Philliedelphia.com, focusing on news and features.
