Ruben Amaro is Delusional If He Thinks Ryan Howard Can Be Productive Again
By Mike Gibson
@papreps
Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports
As if anyone needed another piece of evidence that GM Ruben Amaro Jr. was delusional, Amaro opened his mouth again on Monday. He looks at the Philadelphia Phillies and sees things one way, while the cold, hard numbers suggest otherwise. The latest Amaro remark that caused fans to fume came on Monday when he said that first baseman Ryan Howard will not only be on the team come spring training, but he will be a productive member of it during the season.
It is just the latest piece of evidence that the Phillies GM is delusional over a series of statements, but Howard and the word production left the building a long time ago and are never coming back. Maybe the larger issue the team faces is that Amaro is still in charge.
You can talk OBP or OPS and any of the other great tools statisticians have at their disposal today, but the key stat when it comes to Howard is WAR (wins above replacement). Over the last three years, Howard has proven that any bum the team puts in as his replacement produces more wins for the organization than he does. In 2012, his offensive WAR was -0.6, improving only slightly to 0.9 and 0.2 the the last two seasons. Defensively, he was even worse with a -1.0, -0.7 and -2.3 over the last three seasons.
Combining those two figures, the numbers prove the Phillies can put anyone at first base making the MLB minimum and get more wins than a guy who made $25 million last year. Amaro can talk about Howard’s physical and mental state all he wants, but the facts are that Howard is an overweight, out-of-shape, aging player on the downside of his career with a guaranteed contract and no real incentive to turn things around.
It is the reason why he is unable to unload this albatross and to think anything else is delusional; but in Amaro’s case, it’s just par for the course.
Mike Gibson is a Phillies writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @papreps , “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.
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