Phils Ryan Howard gets NL ROY award

[Zvon]

That should add an interesting twist on the Thome/Howard dilemma that the Phils are facing.
I think Howard definatly deserved this award.
I watched the Phils alot and saw the difference he made.

[nymr83]

its like the Brees/Rivers dilemma, only the younger guy is the better one here...this is an easy choice in my mind. if the phillies can get value for Thome they should take it and run.

[smg58]

I agree. I'd be tempted, if I were the Phillies' GM, to see if Thome remembers how to play third, because the Phillies might not get value for him even if he's healthy. It could get ugly, but if they think his bat will be back in 06 then giving him away could be worse.

[duan]

It's funny, I'm not sure that I wouldn't be prepared to buy the lottery tickets that is to take Thome off their hands @ 40-60 cents on the $.

They're not going to get rid of Howard and they can't (despite ludicrous ideas of playing Thome @ 3b or Howard at LF) play the two of them, so for them it's either sunk cost or retard development and chew up the cheap service time of Howard.

It'd be a 3 year $20-30 million whirl on a guy who when he's playing well is worth 5/6 wins to you. That's better then a 4-5 year $50-60 million whirl on Paul Konerko if you ask me.

In my mind if Thome could recover his 03-04 form, he's better then any free agent bat out there - Brian Giles

Of course if he's irretrievably damaged you've got 6-9 million hole to fill.

Would you do it stick or twist?

[metirish]

I stick, I want nothing to do with Thome.The Phillies will find it ahrd to trade him of course, probably needs to prove that he's healthy first...

Rookie trivia...

Which team has had the most Rookie of the Year Award winners?

[nymr83]

my guess is the Dodgers, they had 4 in a row in 90's (Mondesi, Piazza, Hollandsworth and Nomo i believe) plus Jackie Robinson, and i'm sure there were others.

[metirish]

yup,the Dodgers had 16.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Notice how rarely (or passingly) MLB mentions these days that the award is actually the Jackie Robinson Award?

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

That never really caught on.

[Guest sharpie]

I didn't remember that it was the Jackie Robinson award at all.

Dodgers also had a ROY run in the 70's-80's with Rick Sutcliffe, Steve Sax, Fernando Valenzuela and Steve Howe.

[metirish]

here they are...

] Player Year Todd Hollandsworth 1996 Hideo Nomo 1995 Raul Mondesi 1994 Mike Piazza 1993 Eric Karros 1992 Steve Sax 1982 Fernando Valenzuela 1981 Steve Howe 1980 Rick Sutcliffe 1979 Ted Sizemore 1969 Jim Lefebvre 1965 Frank Howard 1960 Jim Gilliam 1953 Joe Black 1952 Don Newcombe 1949 Jackie Robinson 1947

http://losangeles.dodgers.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/la/history/awards.jsp

[smg58]

duan wrote: Would you do it stick or twist?

I'd offer Kris Benson, provided Thome could pass a significantly more rigorous physical than the one we gave Mo Vaughn.

[nymr83]

i'd offer their choice of benson/zambrano, i'd assume we'd be taking the salary on so they shouldn't get more than that.