Holy wow. The Phillies have offered $14 million, and Howard wants $18 million.
A little Player A / Player B:
| BORN | 2008 STATS |
2008 VORP |
DEFENSE | STAYS HEALTHY? | |
| Player A | November 1979 | .251/.339/.543 | 36.4 | Bad | Yes |
| Player B | November 1979 | .236/.386/.513 | 36.6 | Really bad | Yes |
Which one's better? Player A has posted higher batting averages in the past, so I'd rather have him going forward, but these players were pretty similar in lots of ways in 2008.
Player A is Howard, who's now assured of making at least $14 million this year. Player B is Adam Dunn, who's still looking for a team. This isn't a good year to be a free agent, and you can look at Howard's arbitration figures and see why the Diamondbacks didn't offer Dunn arbitration.