Ryan

Howard

The Phillies are desperate to find a place for the power-hitting youngster, but first base and the corner outfield spots (for which he’s really not suited any more than Jim Thome is) are taken for a long time in Philadelphia. Most consider it a foregone conclusion that Howard will be traded, maybe as soon as this off-season. But GM Ed Wade disagreed. “This is his first time on the 40-man roster. We do have time,” Wade said. “It’s a very hard business to form foregone conclusions. We always try to plan for what the future holds, and we’ll continue to have an open mind about Ryan’s future overall.” Forget about it -- the Phils have needs in the rotation and center field. If Howard can bring a proven player to fill one of those spots, he’ll be dealt.

Howard, a monster power-hitting first baseman who is blocked by Jim Thome, will be one of our favorite players to track this offseason. Expect to see him dealt for a pitcher or center fielder.

A Howard for Jeremy Reed swap may make some sense, as the Mariners need a first baseman and have outfield prospects to spare. Still, the Phillies would rather use Howard to acquire a proven player and Randy Winn doesn’t figure to get it done.

There was some sun and wind to contend with, but Howard, a first baseman by trade, misjudged a couple of fly balls and didn’t look comfortable in the outfield. Manager Charlie Manuel said Howard wouldn’t play left in the Phillies’ spring-training games, but that he would in minor-league spring-training games. We still don’t see this experiment working very well, but if it gets Howard’s bat into the majors...

Finally. This follows yesterday’s similarly overdue promotion of Gavin Floyd. All Howard has done is go .297-37-102 in 370 at-bats for Reading. Simple math says that’s a homer every 10 at-bats. Kid could have a future.

Howard also had a single and an RBI in the contest. Even though he’ll sit against some lefties, he’s worth owning in mixed leagues now that Jim Thome has elected for season-ending surgery.

Only one of the walks was intentional and the entire Marlins’ staff was struggling with control today, but that they were also clearly afraid of Howard had something to do with all the free passes. The left-hander now has 50 walks on the season, a number that could increase substantially with teams not afraid of No. 5 hitter Aaron Rowand.

Howard is tied with David Ortiz for the major league lead at 35 homers.

Howard’s 38th homer gave the Phillies their only runs of the game. The big game pushed Howard’s OPS over 1000 for the first time since April. Albert Pujols, Lance Berkman and Carlos Beltran are the only National Leaguers ahead of him.

Howards leads the National League with 39 homers and 101 RBI. The homer off Horacio Ramirez was his 10th against a left-hander. He needs nine more homers to match Mike Schmidt’s Phillies record of 48 in a season.