Ryan Howard And Philles Agree $125 Million Deal

[Polaroid]

Looks awfully good to me. They may have overpaid a little but it is far from the most outrageous contract we could talk about.

Let's say that again.

Like I said, good from a fantasy aspect but those stats tend to blind you from his shortcomings (in fact this is more like a deal that a diehard Phillies fan would agree to rather than a professional ball club).

When he hit 58 home runs with 149 RBIs in 2006, his statistical worth was only (I mean only in relation to the size of his new contract) $25.3 million; his average worth in his four full seasons is under $20 million per year and it will decline every year he gets older. His 2009 HR/FB ratio (which is a good indicator of power) was a third off his 2006 peak; so far in 2010 (yes, small sample size) it is at a 60%+ discount. Oh, and he has a similar body type to David Ortiz who might be done at the end of the season aged 34 (and I don't think those are steroid related issues).

[Polaroid]

Utley should be worth $250 million then.

Good news for Pujols. No way he should take a penny less than $30 mil per.

But who is going to pay him that (at least on a relatively long term deal)? I can see Gonzalez not making free agency (I fancy some team trading - most likely the Red Sox - to trade him and get a Halladay type extension into the bargain) but Fielder and Pujols yes. But who is going to bid up to $30 million? The Yankees won't be bidding since they already have Texiera at 1B and there is no way that even they will waste all that salary in the DH spot.

[Enigma]

yankees want the dh spot the next two seasons or whatever for jeter and posada if need be

they won't be signing an expensive player to DH I don't think

so the phillies and yankees are out.

also the dodgers

so you have fielder, pujols, and a-gone

red sox could be a bidder if they get rid of beltre and move youkilis back to third.

mets would be interested.

cards and brewers will be involved. maybe white sox?

pujols will probably get at least what Howard got. The Cards I'm sure would offer a similar deal. The question is whether they go higher.

it's just a complete joke that howard got that much because it throws the salary structure out of whack. if you base pujols's deal on howard and based on how much better he is, pujols would deserve like $35 million a year or maybe even more.

[Polaroid]

Using statistical worth, Pujols has averaged over $40 million worth of annual production over the past two years and using 2010 dollars, his annual worth over the past 5 years averages out at around $38 million. In other words, using the ~20% mark up on past performance applied on Howard, that would equate to offering Pujols $45 million a year.