By Tim Kelly, Sports Talk Philly editor 
It's unclear after the Philadelphia Phillies buy Ryan Howard out of his 2017 option if the former National League MVP's career will continue. What isn't unclear is that if he continues, it won't be out of financial need.
Assuming the Phillies buy Howard out of his $23 million option for 2016, which would cost them $10 million, Howard will have made $190,255,000 in his Phillies career. For those of you who are mathematically challenged, Howard, who the Phillies will likely pay not to pay for them in 2017, will have made just shy of $200 million by the end of 2017.
Howard's total earnings will have make him the unchallenged highest paid player in the history of the team. Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels all made over $20 million in individual seasons, but none played for the Phillies long enough to compete with Howard's total earnings with the team. Had Hamels finished out his current contract with the Phillies and either reached his 2019 vesting option or had his 2019 team option exercised, he would have passed Howard in earnings for the team. Instead, he fell approximately $100 million short.
Other players who are widely considered better overall Phillies than Howard also didn't approach his total earnings. Jimmy Rollins, who has the most hits in team history, made just over $85 million in his time with the Phillies. Chase Utley, who played at a Hall of Fame level at his peak, made over $110 million in his time with team. Steve Carlton made under $7 million in his entire MLB career. And Mike Schmidt, who is the greatest Phillie and third baseman of all-time, made just over $17 million in his career, which is less money than Howard made in 2016 individually.
In the end, part of Howard's legacy is the fact that his five-year/$125 million contract was one of the worst, if not the worst, ever signed in league history. That said, Howard also will finish his career with the team just shy of 400 home runs, helped lead the team to a World Series and for a brief time, may have been the most dominant pure home run hitter the franchise has ever had, and that includes Schmidt. For much of his peak, he was probably underpaid. He also played at a different time than Carlton and Schmidt, and served a different role than Utley and Rollins.
