Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Howard Worth Two Princes?

Prince Fielder just signed a two-year contract buying at a couple of his arbitration years for a total of $18 M. He hit .276/.372/.507 last year with 34 HR, .376 wOBA, 113 wOBA+ (and .419 wOBA, 123 wOBA+ in 2007).

Ryan Howard is asking the Phillies for $18 M in arbitration next year, after hitting .251/.339/.543 with 48 HR, .367 wOBA, 108 wOBA+ in 2007 (.398 wOBA, 155 wOBA+ in 2007).

I know there's service time considerations and national recognition (Howard was 2nd in NL MVP voting despite being only the 7th most valuable player on his own team last year, according to FanGraphs), but that seems kind of silly to me.

I think the arbitrator is going to go with the Phillies submitted figure of $14 M, but I wouldn't be surprised if Howard won his case.

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