the guy has sub .340 ops. he might not be one of the top 10 offensive first basemen in beisbol (http://baseballprospectus.com/statistics/sortable/index.php?cid=311494). and his fielding is borderline criminal. if he wins the mvp, it's almost as bad as morneau or colon. he was a tremendous drag on this lineup for 2 months, average at best for 3 months, and transendent for one. we made the playoffs because of starting pitching, an unbelievable pen, good defense (no thanks to howard), and a good lineup of which howard was a part.
his career is already on the downward slope, and to sign him to a long term deal like utley or rollins would make him a drag on the organization for years. it may be one we should take. we have no youth movement on the horizon, so why not pay to keep the core together for as many shots as possible.
i realize this is all beyond you, because you're both you and a fan of a ned coletti run franchise. so if you want to crow about something, here you go: we're probably not going to the playoffs without howard's last month. so far as there's an L in that, I take it.
---- bshelly
"You (Fisher) could get fired, Les Snead could get fired, Kevin Demoff could get fired, but I will always be Eric Dickerson.” (c) The God