Zeke - what to do about ryan howard?

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Zeke - I know your a phillies guy and me being a mets guy, just interested to hear your thoughts about the slumping ryan howard.

i live in the philly area, and have dealt with the bone heads calling into 610 wanting to trade howard or bench him . obviously you cant bench this kid, so curious to hear your take.

your pitching has been throwing well above their heads, and now with rollins back i gotta admit the mets better pick it up or we could fall back.

personally id drop howard to 6 or 7 in the lineup, and let him find his swing. the kid was crushin the ball in spring training, but once the season started he began swinging for the fences. he has always had a hole in his swing, but being on pace to K 240 times is just insane.
 

Rx. Senior
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honestly....i was worried bout this...we win a worldseries...maybe even back to back if they could somehow deal howard for berkman, without having to give it much more.....


if iw as the GM...id somehow make this happen...howards ks are a problem...but to be honest...its his lack of productive at bats in key spots that kill us...the only time hes really a threat, is when a team doesnt have a lefty arm to bring in for some reason, and first base is open......he gets walked if its 2nd and 3rd....TEAMS ARE PASSING UP AUTO-OUTS when theyw alk him......he doesnt just k....he k's on 3 or 4 ptiches usually.....

in my opinion, i simply dont want him on the team....i really think if he didnt play, the phils score more runs with dobbs starting......that would never work..we r talkin bout former MVP, theyd never bench him.....but in a nutshell, i say, deal him for the value he has...our window of opportunity with utley, burrell, victorino, etc,...is the next 5 years....id rather see berkman .....and if they refuse to pay burrell , and pay howard after this season, im gonna be so livid

hell give me kevin youkilis, derek lee, teixeira, ......

howards a young guy who should be able to put butts in seats based on past rep....let him be some one else problem, this team would have 5 more wins if they had any other talented 1b i mentioned.....howard has zero game winning or clutch hits this year.....(maybe 1 walk off hr)....

if we had berkman, ( i dunno if howard for berkman would be done str8 up, but id even throw in jc romero, if the astros would trade berkman)

if theyw ere smart, they woulda worked in howard in the bourn, lidge trade, since the stros wanted to be doen with lidge, and had a 4 foot boner for bourn.
 

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Howard will break out soon. I think your being a little too harsh on the guy. He isn't the only slugger struggling early in the year. Can't deal an MVP in the first month. Guarantee by the end of the year he will have around 40 HR and 115 RBI.
 

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Howard will break out soon. I think your being a little too harsh on the guy. He isn't the only slugger struggling early in the year. Can't deal an MVP in the first month. Guarantee by the end of the year he will have around 40 HR and 115 RBI.


I will take that bet that he doesn't have either 40 HR's or 115 RBI's....ain't happening.
 

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I will take that bet that he doesn't have either 40 HR's or 115 RBI's....ain't happening.

At this time last year Howard had 6 HR and 23 RBI then he missed about a 3 weeks still ended up with 47 HR and 136 RBI. Big man is going to get on a hot streak just watch. He swung the bat well this road trip.
 

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Howard will break out. I don't think Howard is as big a problem as people think. He should not be traded. BTW, Howards slack is being picked up by Burrell and Utley who are playing insane baseball right now. Burrell is not as good as he is playing at this stage in his career and Utley is HOT. When they calm down and Howard gets back to the norm I don't think the team outlook is much different. The division is up for grabs. As a Met fan it is painful to watch the NL East.

The Mets just expect to be handed games and are way too inconsistent.

The Phils are also very inconsistent and just don't look motivated out their.

The Braves don't care about baseball unless they are in Atlanta.

The Nats are the Nats.

The Marlins are the only kids who are playing with heart in this division and although I think they have potential to last into mid June, they just don't have the juice to make it into the fall and late summer.

This division is up for grabs and the only team that wants it isn't capable of winning it. Should be interesting to see who backs into 1st.
 

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Yeah no doubt he starts slow, but the fact that he dont listen to the coaches who tell him to move closer to the plate makes it even worse.

i mean look im a mets fan so im thrilled with him playing this bad, but he aint good in the field, and his swing looks horrible right now.

either way the facts are the facts, and last year he has less homers at this time and still ended up with almost 50 homers. gotta wait and see thats all.
 

Rx. Senior
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Howard will break out soon. I think your being a little too harsh on the guy. He isn't the only slugger struggling early in the year. Can't deal an MVP in the first month. Guarantee by the end of the year he will have around 40 HR and 115 RBI.


id take that bet.......also....if u are really a handicapper, and not just a guy with a favorite team that bets only on them, and never against them...eventually we are gonna have to discuss the fact that when it comes to phils...u simply have severe bias....theres handicapping, and then theres homercapping.....its fine being a homer....but if u r gonna talk games, or baseball situations here...u simply have to realize...the phils wont go 162-0 this year, and howard isnt even a top 10 1b in the major leagues this year.....
 
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its one thing to look at Howard's stats, it's a whole other to actually watch him at the plate. he really does have several KEY ABs where it's strike 1, strike 2, strike 3 (take your pick, looking or swinging). i know he's started slow in the past but it could've never been this bad. for the Phils sake i hope he turns it around, lucky for them Utley and Burrell are tearing the ball.
 

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Howard will probably end the season around .265 35HRs and 110 RBIs.

Typical of Philly fans to think their players suck and other teams have better options. We are talking about a fan group that will boo anyone.
 

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pat burrell was once the most hated player in philly....real phils fans know this....i never jumped on that bandwagon...caus ei dont see anyhting fundamentally wrong with his approach......

its my opinion, and only that, that todays baseball is played better with the angels approach to offense, hit, rally , run and keep throwing up 300 hitters and speed guys and u r gonna get your runs....sure the phils can clear the bases with HR, but with rollins, utley, vicotrino setting the table, a berkman, or youkilis is what they need, not a guy who leads the league in UNPRODUCTIVE OUTS.

u can tell me hes gonna hit 35 hr all u want.....a simply fly ball or grounder to the right side is as good as a solo HR, when theres a guy on 3rd base sometimes, and ryan howard has shown the inability to do that....if u can formulate an argument to battle that point..then u simply arent watching....the phillies done need 40 hr from him....just hit a sac fly every now and then...utley and the table setters are making it incredibly easy for howard tog et rbis, and he cant just "hit the freakin ball and make an out".....

thius is my gripe with howard..not his lack of HR, not his batting average.....

if u cant see this is a valid point..then u r a guy who simply waits foir the bases to be loaded and prays your masher hits a HR......manufacturing runs in baseball gives confidence to your pitching staff, as well as picks up the whole team.....


gregg dobbs would have 25 rbis in howards spot in the lineup by now


hitting the way howard does is simply selfish, whether he realizes it or not....hes either bad or stupid.....hes got a hole in his swing, and what people dont realize is.....when he hit those HR few years ago..pitchers were hitting his bat with the ball....not the other way around! Think about that statement, really think about it...his approach hasnt changed at all.......hes stills winging in the same spot, the ball just isnt there anymore, and he cant adjust

some team would be attracted by his freakishness and give us a guy like berkman, becs howard is much younger....teams dont compete for 15 years anyway...they have 4-6 year windows....phils should capitalize on theirs and get a guy like berkman, or my favorite jew youkilis.
 

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Yeah no doubt he starts slow, but the fact that he dont listen to the coaches who tell him to move closer to the plate makes it even worse.

i mean look im a mets fan so im thrilled with him playing this bad, but he aint good in the field, and his swing looks horrible right now.

either way the facts are the facts, and last year he has less homers at this time and still ended up with almost 50 homers. gotta wait and see thats all.

He moved up in the batters box, but said he didn't feel comfortable. I'm not worried about Howard. With Rollins and Victorino back he will have plenty of RBI chances and will produce soon. Sure most of you guys wanted Ortiz gone the first month too and he is back to his old self.
 

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id take that bet.......also....if u are really a handicapper, and not just a guy with a favorite team that bets only on them, and never against them...eventually we are gonna have to discuss the fact that when it comes to phils...u simply have severe bias....theres handicapping, and then theres homercapping.....its fine being a homer....but if u r gonna talk games, or baseball situations here...u simply have to realize...the phils wont go 162-0 this year, and howard isnt even a top 10 1b in the major leagues this year.....

No doubt I'm a homer, but I'm giving my honest opinion on Howard. I'm not worried about him and don't jump on the bandwagon when he has a 10 HR month. Tigers RL last year with Verlander vs. Eaton was one of biggest plays of the year. Most of Phillies bet work out as I usually only bet them when Hamels starts.
 

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With one game left before the All-Star break, Ryan Howard has 28 HRs and 84 RBIs.

Lucky for the Phillies, their management isnt as irrational as their fanbase.
 

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Howard will break out soon. I think your being a little too harsh on the guy. He isn't the only slugger struggling early in the year. Can't deal an MVP in the first month. Guarantee by the end of the year he will have around 40 HR and 115 RBI.

Looks like I estimated those numbers too low. He will end up with 50 HR and 130 RBI.
 

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me too. The way he is hitting, he might reach my prediction by the end of July.

I'm going all 50s for his totals.

.250 avg, 50 HRs and 150 RBIs.
 

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All due respect, if the Phils had Berkman they would win a world series. Are you kidding me? Howard is what Howard is, it will never change, he will strikeout 200 plus time every year. He will also hit 40 plus HR's and 115 plus RBIS every year. I will give him credit that he is batting around .340 with runners in scoring position which puts him 6th in the league. As far as this team goes and they are showing you that they are built for the long ball. They can only win when they hit homeruns. When they go against good pitching they will not hit. As an example, look at when they played those three good American league teams and lost seven out of eight. Bottom line is good pitching will always shut this team down. And as far as a world series, this team is dire need of good starting pitching. After Hamels who else do you have? I am a fan but I am also a realist. The real shame of it all is they are wasting very good talented offensive players by not surrounding them with average pitching. They have a chance to resign Loshe in the off-season and they pass. Just ranting , have a good day. Oh, more more thing about Howard and I agree with you about the bad swing and strikeouts but he will get a raise of probably 5 million next year when he goes back to arbitration. This is the reality to today's game.
 

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