The Philadelphia Phillies are apparently finalizing a 5 year, $125 million contract extension with Ryan Howard.
Howard is under contract for this year at $19 million, and for 2011 at $20 million.
This extension is...puzzling, to say the least, if these terms are true.
First of all, he's older than you think. Ryan Howard turns 31 in November...he's older than Hank Blalock. He's older than Rich Harden (and weirdly, both Blalock and Harden were also born in November). He's older than Mark Prior, Ramon Nivar, and Albert Pujols. He was 26 in his first full season in the majors, so the perception is that he's still relatively young, but he's not.
He's a high-K, middling-average power hitter whose walk totals have gone down every season, who doesn't play good defense, and who doesn't have the sort of athletic build of the type of player who would age well would be expected to have.
And he doesn't hit lefties at all.
Oh, and he's in the N.L., so you can't DH him.
I have my doubts about him being worth $20 million in his age 30 and 31 seasons...but $25 million per year from ages 32-36?
This is the type of player you want to go year-to-year with, because he's going to decline sooner rather than later, and when he goes, he's likely to go fast.
I'll wager the Phillies are hating this deal before the first year of the extension kicks in.