Howard's Slump

Anyone think it's time to give Ryan Howard a few days off?  He is showing no signs of coming out of early slump and now has a mind-boggling 45 strike outs.  He's played in every game so far this season with only one day off in Pittsburgh when he still appeared as a pinch hitter.  He just looks bad and really uncomfortable at the plate right now. 

I know it's heresy to sit a guy like Howard, but maybe he just needs to take the pressure off himself for a couple of days.   Have Manuel sit him down and talk to him; tell him not to think about it too much.  Francona recently did it with David Ortiz and it seems that Ortiz is now finding his groove.  We all know the Phils need a productive Ryan Howard - something has to be done.  With a home game today and a long trip to Arizona for another game tomorrow night, maybe we're at a good point in the schedule for Howard to get a blow? 

You are absolutely correct, he was a one-year fluke... but just so I'm sure we're on the same page, was it the year he hit 22 homers in only 88 games with a .923 OPS and won ROY, or was it the year he hit 58 homers with a 1.084 OPS and won MVP, or was it the year he hit 47 homers with 0.976 OPS?

Maybe he was a one-year wonder in his ROY season, then those next 2 were just flukey flukes?  Or, maybe he's actually just a 3-year wonder and now we're seeing his true colors?  That way, we could say no flukes, right?  Or maybe he really is an awesome hitter, and this year's the fluke (uh, so far)?

He does seem to be swinging the bat a little better, more patience at the plate. Hopefully he's seeing the end of this slump.

Time will tell. All hitters go through bad patches now and then. You do not just give up on them and trade them in their prime because of it.

First, don't be silly.  It would be crazy to trade Ryan Howard for any relief pitcher without any major league starting experience, no matter who it was.  Now, it wouldn't be silly to trade Howard for a proven ace starter who was young enough to make it worthwhile, say Santana or Webb.

That being said, here's a story.  In 1975, his 3rd full year in the bigs, Mike Schmidt had 61 strikeouts and was hitting 0.184/0.277/0.356 with 6 home runs and 20 RBI in 185 plate appearances through the end of May.  He ended up hitting 0.249/0.367/0.523 that year with 38 home runs and 95 RBI (oh, and 180 strikeouts).  That's an 0.890 OPS, which is quite a bit lower than Howard has produced in his previous 3 seasons, but still I'd take those numbers from Howard on a down year.  And, personally, I'm really glad that they didn't trade Schmidt around that time, even though I'm sure that he was getting more than his share of boos at the Vet.

the phils spent $10 mil for 1 yr for freddy garcia and got nothing.

now they are spending $10 mil to see Ryan Howard off to ANOTHER cold april and now may. he has 50 k's. he's batting .167 with 6 hrs!

face it folks...every pitcher in the NL knows how to throw to him. throw it low, outside and off-speed and he can't hit it. his mvp season he crushed the ball to the opposite field. know he can't. he's  not worth $10 mil this season or the $15-18 mil he wants after arbitration.

the phils are cheap and we know this. they won't pay this salary. so, instead of losing him to free agency or the Red Sox, Mets or Yankees - trade him within the next 2 yrs for a tier II OR III 1B and a top notch starting pitcher !

trade him while he still has value!! look at the flyers - they are stuck with simon gagne and his 4 yr deal bc of concussion syndrome. trading howard while he has value  can only help the club. the flyers are stuck with gagne now ! he's another lindros and premieu.

bf all of you give me 1's and start yelling at me - tell me this... why keep him when he will have over 200 K's, start off slow every april and want between $15-18 mil ??