The World Champion Phillies have added the last remaining piece to their championship puzzle. The Philadelphia Inquirer is now reporting that Ryan Howard and the Phillies have agreed to a $54MM 3-year deal successfully avoiding the arbitration process and a hearing that was to take place later this week.
Initially, Howard was seeking $18MM for an additional year while the Phillies organization fell about $4MM short offering the slugger only $14MM. Now with the new agreement Howard’s average salary tends to average just about $18MM per year he and his agent were requesting.
The contract will eliminate the remainder of Howard’s arbitration eligible period as the agreement will be made through the 2011 season. The 2006 NL Most Valuable Player will be eligible for free agency at the end of the 2011 season.
Ryan Howard lead the league in home runs and RBI’s last season and was a vital contributor to the Phillies championship run last season. I think Philadelphia is very happy this issue has been resolved!