Bucking the Trend

Many Philadelphia Phillies fans were caught scratching their heads when the Phils failed to lock up first baseman Ryan Howard to a long term deal this off season. The perplexity turned to hostility as Howard got off to a horrendous start to the '08 campaign. The lack of financial security for the former NL MVP appeared to have derailed his focus. Howard was awarded the largest one year contract ever in arbitration, $10 million.

Phillies' GM Pat Gillick announced he would be retiring at season's end. So why not get Howard inked long-term and let it be someone else's problem down the road?

The truth is, Gillick may have been ahead of the curve as he declined to pay the big bucks for the masher in the middle of the line-up. The post-steroid era power outage in the big leagues this year has changed the offensive philosophy of many teams.

Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia has agreed quite well with hitters since opening in 2004. Problem is, the Phitins have struggled to find the pitching consistency necessary to exceed in post-season play. Offense can win you an NL East crown, but without pitching you can't expect to win a pennant.

So with LF Pat Burrell in the final year of his contract, it appears the Phils will have some money to throw at starting pitching in the off-season. Chase Utley was signed to a seven year, $85 million deal because of his ability to hit for average as well as tattoo balls into the cheap seats.

Conventional wisdom would say pay the man who won Rookie of the Year and followed that up with an MVP award. But Gillick's experience, wisdom, and intestinal fortitude allowed him to stand pat (pun intended) and keep his team in a position to succeed for a long time.