Late Innings

The big guy got his big deal this Sunday:

Howard and the Philadelphia Phillies agreed to a $54 million, three-year contract on Sunday, avoiding a potentially contentious arbitration hearing.

The 2006 NL MVP will earn $15 million this season, $19 million next year and $20 million in 2011. He can increase the base salary by $1 million in each of the last two years if he wins the MVP award during the previous year. He can boost it by $500,000 if he finishes second.

For over the past year or so, I’ve enjoyed writing about Howard and his battles with the club over arbitration. His first year set the tone, since he was awarded 10MM by the arbitration panel. And the likelihood of him winning this year’s case was also high, especially if those three arbitrators loved RBIs as much as BBWAA writers do.

Granted he could have gotten more money had he gone year to year, maybe 20MM in 2010 and 23MM in 2011, however he, like most people, is probably sick of the whole arbitration process, even after just going through it for one year. Still at his rate he’s not necessarily a bargain by any means. Seriously, if you look at some data (courtesy of BTBS I believe), Howard’s a 1.7 WAR player. And being generous, at 4.5MM a win, Howard’s a 8MM a year player. So the Phillies are essentially paying double for his services, since his defense at first is the equivalent of an Easter Island statue playing the position.

Yes the Philies overpaid (and have been since last year), but then again the Philies won a World Series. As long as the team keeps winning, they can continue to wear this albatross around their necks until he leaves the team after 2011 for more greener pastures (if that’s even possible, given his older age and body makeup.)