A Loss and a Contract

There isn't too much about last night's game to make a Phillies fan happy. Roy Halladay had his first loss. Interestingly enough, in three career starts in San Francisco, Halladay has given up exactly five earned runs each time. The Phillies offense seemed equally cursed last night, and came up with a less than pitiful performance, considering how many opportunities they had to score. They left the bases loaded three times, and the only run they scored was on a ground out, and even that needed a double steal by Shane Victorino and Placido Polanco following a rare walk of Polanco (only his second of the season). I have to give credit where credit is due, and the Giants offense and pitching were both effective. It was a tough game to watch on all accounts, and if it hasn't come time for this already, I imagine Charlie's going to have a bit of a chat with the team before long.

(Photo courtesy of Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP)

Now that that bad news is out of the way, it's time to talk about something that happened yesterday of much greater significance than one bad game. That something was the biggest contract in franchise history, handed out to Ryan Howard: a five year extension worth a guaranteed $125 million, plus an option for a sixth year that would bring the total dollar value to $138 million. I have mixed feelings about this. I have written in this space before that Ryan Howard is overrated, but he still remains a great player. Even if all the numbers in the world show that Howard should not be paid such large sums, the market would undoubtedly net him at least as much if he had become a free agent after next season. In the short term, this does not change the payroll flexibility for the Phillies, since Howard will not receive a the bump in pay to $25 million until 2014. Additionally, I have no problem with him being paid $20 million a year in the short term, as the market demands. I, along with most everyone else watching this, do have concerns about Howard being paid $25 million a year when he's 34, 35, and 36 years old. However, what's done is done, and only time will tell now if this deal is a huge success or a huge burden for the Phillies. In the immediate future, on the other hand, this deal puts the spotlight squarely on on another player who is slated to become a free agent after this season: Jayson Werth.

 (Photo courtesy of Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP)

The looming free agency of Werth has long be a subject of discussion, and I wrote a while ago that he is worthy the value people are assigning to him. It has been something of an accepted fact in many circles of Phillies analysts that Werth will walk after this year and become the subject of yet another Red Sox-Yankees bidding war. The Phillies organization itself has not conceded defeat, however. Even yesterday, as many immediately jumped to the conclusion that this Howard deal means a definite farewell to Werth, Ruben Amaro hinted that this was not necessarily so. Todd Zolecki also wrote that he's "gotten the sense recently that the Phillies think they can sign Jayson Werth to a contract extension." I would have no problem with the team raising the payroll ceiling to accommodate this. It will be interesting to see how the Werth situation develops in the coming months, especially in light of the Howard deal. If nothing else, the Howard deal means that the Ruben Amaro and the front office see much of this current team as the core for many years to come, and it remains to be seen if Werth will be a part of that or not.

(Photo courtesy of Christian Petersen/Getty Images)