Although Jon Atwood made some good points in Strike While the Iron is Hot.  Trade Howard Now, I am of a different mindset.  Trading Ryan Howard might be one of the worst things the Phillies can do.

Howard is the premier power hitter in all of Major League Baseball.  Players like him come once in a lifetime to a baseball franchise.  The fact that he leads the National League in home runs (28), and RBIs (84), while only batting .234 is simply amazing.  Speaking of his low batting average, Howard has had his struggles at the plate, but he also leads the Phillies in batting average with runners in scoring position (.333).  Although he has some flaws, Howard creates runs and there’s no one better in the game at doing that. 

Of course the big knock on Howard is his strikeouts.  In fact if you take away his strikouts this season, and only factor in his at-bats when he put the ball in play, he’s batting .362.  Unfortunately you have to deal with strikeouts.  Strikeouts come with power.  Eight of the top 10 players who are on the all-time strikeout list (Reggie Jackson, Sammy Sosa, Jim Thome, Fred McGriff, Mike Schmidt, Jose Canseco, Willie Stargell, & Dave Kingman), all have at least 440 career home runs.  Outside of Kingman, would you dump any of these players in their prime?  I don’t think so.

Also to be considered when discussing any type of trade of Howard is the draw factor.  Don’t kid yourself, on  team that consists of Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins, Cole Hamels, and Pat Burrell, people are there to see Howard.  Especially on the road.  It’s not only chicks who dig the longball; everybody digs the longball.  By losing Howard, you lose money at the box office.  That in-turn hurts the front office form acquiring the high-priced players needed to take the Phillies to the next level.

Speaking of money, a situation was blown out of proportion this spring when Howard won his arbitration hearing, and was awarded $10 million.  I never understood this fuss.  Have you looked at baseball contracts lately?  Tell me where you can get a former Rookie of the Year, one season removed from the MVP, and has hit a combine 105 home runs and 285 over the past two season for $10 million?  If anything, he’s a bargin.

I know a lot of the hype surrounding it was the fact he received a $9 million dollar raise, but as much as people don’t want to hear it, baseball is a business.  This is nothing new.  Ty Cobb held out for more money, Dizzy Dean went “on strike” (during a pennant race), and Joe DiMaggio missed spring training on a regular basis while holding out for more money.

Besides, since when is a fan allowed to judge a player on their contract?  I know fans tend to be harder on players with big contracts, as I’m guilty of it myself (my personal line is once Howard strikes out 200 times, he’ll be getting paid $50,000 a strikeout), but is that really right?  Do you look at a guy who works at Kinkos and think “For the money he’s making, he should be photocopying twice as much.”  It’s silly, and to a point, it’s really not your business.

Aside from money, a big factor you’d have to consider in trading Howard is who will replace him?  I’ve heard fans come up with brilliant ideas like convert Burrell to a first baseman, and give him an extension.   Let me get this straight.  You want to trade possibly the greatest power hitter in Phillies history so a guy who’s older than Howard and with half the power (lest not forget, he makes more money than Howard), can convert from left field and play first base?  Talk about a a poorly thought out idea.  Burrell at first base wouldn’t even be an upgrade on defense.  The logical option if Howard were to be traded would be trying to sign Mark Teixeira, but that’s crazy talk.  If you think for a second the Phillies, are going to shell out upwards of $20 million a season for Teixeira, you need to lay off the sauce.  It’s not going to happen.  What the Phillies would do is bring in a player like Hank Blalock and work on converting him to first base.    Talk about a downgrade.  Before you trade a player of Howard’s stature, you need to have someone who can replace him (IE - when the Phillies dealt Thome to the White Sox).

By even considering dealing Howard at this point in the season you are taking a giant step back.  You don’t deal your best run producer in the middle of a pennant run.  Unless you are getting equal valued superstars  in return (which you won’t), you’re telling your fan base you are giving up on the season.  If Howard were to be dealt, you wouldn’t be getting the likes to Ben Sheets in return, you’d get a couple blue-chip prospects who can contribute in 2010.

Howard, Utley, Rollins, Hamels, & Brad Lidge all aren’t eligible for free agency until 2011.  There’s a core in place here in Philadelphia so this team can win for multiple seasons.  By dealing Howard your messing with a good thing. 

While Howard could use a little more time with Milt Thompson cutting down on his strikeouts, dealing him to another team because we’ll get more for him now then when he can bolt in 2011 is the wrong move.  Howard needs to stay, and lead the Phillies to victory for years to come.