**The Official Keeping the Phillies Fans off the Ledge Thread***

[Slateman]

Great post W2B. Particularly like the bolded part, as it is what I generally argued in support of Howard.

But yes, his hitting against lefties and his approach in general better are both frustrating. I think we've seen the best we're going to get against lefties, but I would like to see him learn to hit a breaking ball at some point. If Pedro Cerano can do it, why can't he?

So ... basically ... you want Ryan Howard to take up voodoo?

 

[SethMode]

So ... basically ... you want Ryan Howard to take up voodoo?

Whatever works. I don't think I'm alone when I say Jobu = World Series.

 

[Obst]

Freddy Galvis?

Galvis is the same as Rollins, he can hit but he doesn't take walks at all. Only has played 33 games at the AAA level and he struck out 18 times while only walking 3 times. If he starts a full year, I would project him batting something like .240, even though Rollins isn't a true leadoff hitter, that's a huge step down. I honestly have no clue what we will do at SS if Rollins leaves us. I guess we would be forced to try Galvis out because no one is on the market besides Reyes and we can't afford him.

 

[Blade]

According to Todd Zolecki (Phillies Beat writer) twitter:

Rollins looking for 5 years or 4 years with 5th year as a player option.

 

[NAHSTE]

Joe Posnanski on the Howard deal, and other bad contracts:

http://joeposnanski.si.com/2011/10/11/the-worst-contracts-in-baseball/

The Ryan Howard deal is a looming disaster, and it hasn’t even started yet. He turns 32 in November, and players with his skill set sometimes take a precipitous fall in their early 30s. The truth is, with Howard, the decline started a while ago. For four years — from 2006-2009 — he crushed a lot of home runs. This fed his whole game. It gave him impressive RBI numbers. It sparked teams to intentionally walk him a lot, puffing up his on-base percentage. The last two years, his home runs have dropped, he didn’t even slug .500 in 2011, and managers no longer fear him as much. His inability to hit lefties has become a defining quality. The Cardinals in these playoffs intentionally walked the perfectly fine but hardly intimidating Hunter Pence in order to FACE Ryan Howard.

The last game of the Cardinals-Phillies series, the announcers kept making a big deal about how St. Louis’ Chris Carpenter needed to get a succession of outs so that he would not have to face Ryan Howard in the ninth inning. Carpenter did not quite get those outs, and so the announcers went on and on about how this meant Ryan Howard would come up one more time, there was no avoiding it, Mighty Casey would get one last at-bat. And all I could think of was that those words — Ryan Howard would get one more at-bat — would make me happier if I was a CARDINALS fan than a Phillies fans. Howard ended the game by hitting routine ground ball and he blew out his Achilles going to first base.

Howard has been a fun player, a marvelous slugger, the sort of player that Philadelphia could rally around and there’s a lot of value in that. But he’s basically becoming a one-tool slugger who can’t hit lefties. That contract — even if Howard can somehow get and stay healthy and regain his power — is like that Robert DeNiro attempt to bring “Rocky and Bullwinkle” to the big screen. Even before it begins, you know it has no chance.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

Good link, thanks.

 

[Obst]

* If the Phillies don't re-sign closer Ryan Madson, Amaro will go outside the organization for a replacement, he told reporters including MLB.com's Todd Zolecki today. Madson, a Scott Boras client, could be a tough sign. Amaro said he talked to Madson yesterday, and the righty is excited about free agency. The Phillies can at least get a couple of draft picks as a consolation prize. Heath Bell, Jonathan Papelbon, Jonathan Broxton, Matt Capps, Francisco Cordero, Frank Francisco, Joe Nathan, and Francisco Rodriguez are also on the free agent market.
* Amaro said he'd like Domonic Brown to spend another full season in Triple-A (Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer with the tweet). Brown, one of the game's top prospects prior to the season, hit .245/.333/.391 in 210 plate appearances in the Majors this year. Most of Brown's starts came prior to the team's acquisition of Hunter Pence. Amaro says Brown has some work to do in left field, a position that will be an "open competition" for the 2012 Phillies.
* Amaro does not think Ryan Howard's torn Achilles tendon will impact the team's offseason moves.
* Free agent signings are more likely than trades.
* The Phillies are still discussing Roy Oswalt's $16MM option internally. Amaro says that "might be a tough one." The Phillies' front office has also internally discussed extending Cole Hamels.
* The Phillies' payroll is expected to be similar to this year's.