By Tim Kelly, Sports Talk Philly editor 
Even as potential young power hitters like Rhys Hoskins shine in the infancy of Spring Training, it's hard not to think of the second greatest power hitter in team history.
Ryan Howard, who is a free-agent for the first time in his career, hasn't signed with a team yet in his quest to continue his career. One league general manager apparently believes that an American League East team should take a shot on the 37-year-old.
In his latest edition of Inside Baseball, Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports spoke to an anonymous general manager that thinks the Tampa Bay Rays should give Howard a shot:
Ryan Howard, who had a mansion in Clearwater, Fla., would still fit the Rays. “They should do it,” says a rival GM of Howard, who had a .900-plus OS in the second half last year.
The problem with this theory is that the Rays elected to re-sign Logan Morrison to play first base, have Corey Dickerson, who hit 24 years ago to serve as the DH, and another low-average, power type in now second baseman Brad Miller. If the Rays had truly wanted someone like Howard, they could have signed right-handed hitting Chris Carter, who instead recently signed with their division rivals, the New York Yankees.
If an injury occurs to a power hitter during Spring Training, perhaps an American League team will give Howard a shot. The problem is that at this advanced stage of his career, Howard isn't someone that would be useful for a ton of games. He doesn't hit well against left-handed pitchers and was so streaky throughout the course of the last few seasons that even his small hot streaks wouldn't be worth the incredibly high rate he's going to strikeout at the rest of the time.
Howard could be of value to a team during a pennant race and into the playoffs, when one swing off the bench could change the course of a season, but right now it's hard to make a very good case for why a team should sign the former National League MVP.
