January 18, 2008
Going for a Record
Ryan Howard is looking for $2.6 million more than Miguel Cabrera's $7.4 million record for a first year eligible player. Cabrera posted numbers of .331/.408/.564 in the two years leading up to his hearing. Howard's number the last two years are .292/.409/.623. Howard played in a better ballpark for hitters. We'll see if the arbitrator takes that into account, but my guess is the Phillies $7 million offer is going to be seen to be too low. If they offered $8 million, Philadelphia would have saved themselves $2 million.
howard used the phillies cheapness against them. brilliant!