Howard Gets $125 Million

1B Ryan Howard of the Philadelphia Phillies has signed a new extension for 5 years that's worth $125 million. With this contract, he will be making $25 million a year, second to New York Yankees 3B Alex Rodriguez. Howard has certainly put up great numbers since coming into the league in 2005. Howard is the fastest baseball player in history to reach 200 career home runs, and in his second season, his MVP season of 2006, he hit 58 home runs. Howard's contract can reach up to $138 million if the Phillies pick up the option on the last year of his deal.

While Howard has been a productive player, this contract is outrageously high. When Rodriguez received a 10-year, $252 million deal in 2000 from the Texas Rangers, that deal was also not smart. Howard strikes out way too much to be considered that valuable. While Howard has been productive, it has been the bats of 2B Chase Utley and SS Jimmy Rollins that has won them important games. The Phillies have been successful the past couple of seasons because they have gotten the job done as a team.

If Howard is paid $25 million per season, how much is 1B Albert Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals going to make? Pujols is clearly way better than Howard and rodriguez, and he makes much less than them right now. Pujols is looking for a new contract as well, and they are probably going to negotiate during the offseason. Pujols deserves $30 million per season if those two can make that much. That puts pressure on the Cardinals because they probably can't afford that much money. That would probably mean Pujols won't be back with the Cardinals for much longer. We'll just have to see how it plays out with Pujols.