Ryan Howard was once the star of the Phillies, an All-Star in 2006, '09 and '10. Now he's mainly warming benches.
His playing time started to dwindle near the end of last season and he didn't play at all in the team's final 17 games. When speaking to the media Tuesday, Phillies manager Pete Mackanin had a very simple message for Howard.
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“You’ve got to play better," he said, via the Philly Voice. "If you want to play every day, you have to show me you can play better, you can hit better. That determines a lot. If you show me you can’t, or you’re not hitting better, than you’re not going to play."
The Phillies have other options at first base, such as Darin Ruf. Last season, Ruf hit better, so it's only natural that Mackanin feels comfortable playing him over the 36-year-old Howard. Mackanin did say it was a "difficult situation" given Howard's previous success with the team, but he's just not the same player.
“At this point in time, like I said, I’m going to have a discussion with Ryan and I’m going to tell him that if you want to face lefties, you’ve got to hit them better," he said. "If you don’t hit them better, I’m going to platoon. It’s basically what we’re looking at. It’s gotten to that point.
“And if it comes to that, I think it could be helpful to Ryan and to Darin Ruf. Once again, it’s hard for me to justify not playing someone who led in OPS in the major leagues against left-handed pitchers (.418) and that’s Darin Ruf. It’s hard for me not to play that guy when I’ve got that guy sitting there to try to win games.”
