The Philadelphia Phillies have been unsuccessful at finding anyone to take Ryan Howard off their hands, but general manager Ruben Amaro, Jr. doesn't sound like he's going to keep the 35-year-old first baseman around much longer.
Speaking on 97.5 The Fanatic on Friday, via Dan Toman of TheScore.com, Amaro was very frank about where Howard stands with the Phillies:
"We've talked to Ryan," Amaro said. "And I told him that in our situation it would probably bode better for the organization not with him but without him. With that said if he's with us, then we'll work around him."
While that seems to put a permanent strain on this marriage, Amaro also said the Phillies have no plans to eat Howard's contract just to get rid of him:
"No one's going to release Ryan Howard," Amaro said. "That's not going to happen. Ryan Howard is too productive and too important a player to just release. You just don't do that with a player like that. But, we don't have any designs on doing that."
Howard is guaranteed $50 million for the next two years with a $10 million buyout after 2016, so the Phillies would have to eat all of that if they were to release him. The 2006 National League MVP led the league with 190 strikeouts last year while hitting .223/.310/.380 in 153 games.
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