A CITIZEN'S BLOG

Big day for the Phillies today as they are scheduled to meet on Ryan Howard’s request for $10 million dollars for 2008 with the arbitrator. The Phillies are offering $7 million dollars and it is unlikely that the team and Howard will reach an accord prior to today’s hearing. The likely outcome is a messy hearing that sees the Phillies forced to argue and present evidence as to why Howard doesn’t deserve the money, while Howard must present evidence that he is worthy. I did a little research on the subject and found the whole topic of arbitration to be shadowy and mysterious. As near as I could discover, it appears to me that the largest arbitration award Howard is seeking would be the largest ever handed down, so there will be quite a lot of attention paid to the hearing from outside of the Phillies organization.

Interesting facts: the Phillies haven’t gone to an arbitration hearing since 2001, when they fought with Travis Lee. In their history, the Phillies have won all seven of their arbitration hearings.

The largest award I’ve found is the one Alfonso Soriano won in 2006 ($10 million). Soriano, however, had extra playing time compared with Howard. Miguel Cabrera won $7.4 million last year in arbitration and he had less experience than Howard has, so it seems virtually assured that the Phillies are going to see Howard walk away with more than their asking price.

If the Phillies prevail, their basic argument will be that Howard should make what Albert Pujols made in 2004, his fourth season in the big leagues, when he made $7 million. Ultimately the Cardinals went and signed Pujols to a 7-year deal worth $100 million, which is what the Phillies want to see happen here.