Ryan Howard is not greedy. He’s a major league baseball player looking to get paid what he thinks he is worth.

The problem is that Howard overestimates his worth, or at least, what the Phillies think he is worth.

The Phillies either don’t think that Howard is one of the top couple of position players in baseball, or they don’t put a lot of stock in having one of those players on their team for the long-term. Otherwise, Howard would have already been locked up by the Phillies, or there would be substantive conversations regarding a long-term deal. Instead, all that is reported is that the difference between the sides is too great for a long-term deal to happen.

Previous reports had the Phillies trying to lock up Howard a while back to a deal similar to if not greater than the one that Chase Utley received. Howard obviously thinks he is worth more than what Utley got, so the stalemate remains.

The Phillies are best served by continuing year to year and then trading Howard near his free agent year. Howard’s poor defense, penchant for striking out and his body type make him a player worth avoiding with a payroll crippling contract on the level of Mark Teixeira.

My first reaction to the news of the Phillies’ and Howard’s arbitration numbers was that Howard has a strong case and the Phils will lose this one if they don’t settle on a deal with Howard somewhere in the middle. But when you compare Howard’s 2008 to his 2007, you wonder what the justification is for an 80% raise to someone who underperformed year over year. Howard had 10 more RBI and 1 more HR in 2008 and 2007, but almost every other statistic was down. Ks were still at all-time highs, BA was down, OPS+ was down, BB were down, OBP was down, Fielding % was down. Howard deserves to make a lot of money because baseball players at the highest level make a lot of money – but an 80% raise? Based on what?

The argument that Howard led the resurgent Phillies in the last 2 months of the season is a fair one, but I would counter that the Phillies had no business trailing the Mets as late as they did, and Howard’s early season struggles were part and parcel of why the Phillies couldn’t create separation in the standings that was big enough to prevent the Mets surge in July and August from dropping us in the standings. Howard batted .206 in April and May with nearly twice as many strikeouts as RBI during that time (78 Ks vs. 42 RBI).

I really don’t care how much Ryan Howard makes, as long as the contract is in line with the contracts of similar players. To me, Ryan Howard is much closer to Adam Dunn than he is Albert Pujols. Paying Ryan Howard $18 million for 1 year would sound reasonable if he hit for better average, wasn’t so damn streaky, and played something better than well below average defense.

I don’t dislike Ryan Howard. On the contrary, he’s been a big part of the Phillies last 2 NL East pennants and this year’s World Series win. But we need to be realistic about what he wants vs. what makes sense for the Phillies to pay him. The difference between $14 million and $18 million doesn’t mean anything to me. What does matter is the Phillies ability to continue to improve their club within their financial constraints.