The Phillies are in the midst of a season high six-game losing
streak. Their offense has remained lifeless and the starting pitching hasn’t
been able to continue carrying the load. The six losses have been against the
teams that currently hold baseball’s top two records, the Chicago Cubs and the
Washington Nationals. The early season magic that saw the Phillies win 13 out
of 16 one-run games on their way to a 21-15 start has disappeared.
When the Phillies were winning, conversations sparked about
what the team would do at the trade deadline if still in contention. Now, the
primary topic of discussion surrounding the Phillies is about a player who
doesn’t play every day and is hitting .153. It’s no secret the end is near for
Ryan Howard in a Phillies uniform. His current contract includes a $10 million
buyout for the 2017 season, therefore 2016 is bound to be the last season Howard
will play in Philadelphia.
In the middle of May, the Phillies called up 24-year old first
base prospect Tommy Joseph from Lehigh Valley as Joseph was tearing it up in Triple
A. Initially, the plan was to platoon Howard and Joseph and have Howard play
against right handers while Joseph got all the at-bats against left-handed
starting pitchers. As Howard’s struggles continued, manager Pete Mackanin began
to mix Joseph in against right-handers and some called for the Phillies to just
release Howard and be done with him.
There is no doubt that for the rest of the season, Joseph is
a better option than Howard at first base. However, remember those discussions
about the trade deadline and what the team should do if it continues to
overachieve? Well, it doesn’t look like that will be a realistic scenario
regardless of who is playing first base. So that begs the question, what’s
wrong with riding out the rest of the season, with Joseph starting
approximately two-thirds to three-quarters of the remaining games, and mixing
in Howard once or twice a week? After
all, there could be value in just having him act as a soundboard for a lot of
the younger players on the roster to bounce ideas off of.
It’s important to remember this team was supposed to be one
of the worst in baseball this year. Many prognosticators had the Phillies
winning in the upper 60s or at best low 70s. Perhaps they could end up a little
bit better than that, but .500 would be quite a step forward after 63 wins last
season. The team is in the midst of a rebuild and the focus has been placed on
developing the farm system, which is now one of the better ones in baseball. As
the team continued to add prospects to its system, Joseph continued to drop
down the organizational ladder by many experts who ranked prospects in farm
systems. Joseph was traded to the Phillies in 2012 as a part of the Hunter
Pence trade. His lengthy injury history prolonged his stay in the minor leagues
and forced him to move from catcher to first base. As the Phillies replenished
the farm, discussions about the future of the organization were centered around
lots of prospects not named Tommy Joseph.
Yet, here we are in 2016 and the team has sold off almost
all of its veterans over the last year and a half, and Joseph is getting a
chance. First base was one of the positions the farm system lacked a definitive
answer to and when Joseph started hot in Lehigh Valley, the timing made sense to
promote him and give him a look in the majors. He will start more than Howard
will for the rest of this season, and will almost certainly get a good chunk of
2017 as the team’s first baseman. That seems like plenty of time to evaluate if
there’s a future for Joseph or not as the team’s first baseman so it seems
petty to think Howard is blocking him.
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| Ron Cortes/Philly.com Howard has seen his role reduced in the early stages of 2016. |
Howard’s decline since 2011 has been well-documented.
Injuries forced him to miss the first half of 2012 and the second half of 2013.
When healthy, his production hasn’t been close to what it once was. Previous
General Manager Ruben Amaro Jr. was rightfully criticized for being loyal to a
fault and trying to turn back the clock by gambling on lots of veterans during
the 2012-14 seasons instead of hitting the reset button. But that same argument
cannot be applied to current General Manager Matt Klentak here. Howard just
happens to be one of few veterans left on the roster, is untradeable, and the
team doesn’t have a slam-dunk option to play every day at first base. Therefore,
since Joseph’s promotion, Mackanin has played both Joseph and Howard but Joseph
more frequently in hopes of him becoming that slam-dunk option or just proving
to be someone worth keeping around on the active 25-man roster for years to
come. Before Joseph got to Philadelphia, there were some fans complaining that
Howard was blocking Darin Ruf. However, even with Howard on the roster, Ruf was
given countless opportunities from 2012 to 2015 to prove to be a part of the
organization’s future and failed to capitalize. So why is Ryan Howard’s
presence on a team that is clearly proving not to be a contender and isn’t
getting much offensive production from anyone else either so detrimental to the
organization? It just doesn’t add up.
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