Philadelphia Phillies’ Ryan Howard continues to struggle

The legacy of Ryan Howard in the City of Brotherly Love is very much up in the air.

The 34-year-old Philadelphia Phillies first baseman is in the midst of a multidimensional 2014 campaign. He’s on pace to hit close to 30 home runs and drive in around 100 runs, but through the season’s first half, is batting just .220. He’s played in more games this season than he has since 2011, but is slugging just .381 – roughly 150 points below his career mark – and could very well strike out more than 200 times for the first time in his career.

It wasn’t so long ago that Howard was arguably the most feared hitter in the National League. His MVP season of 2006 was almost a decade ago, when he narrowly missed joining the elusive 60-homer club, smashing 58 long balls en route to 149 RBIs and the National League MVP award. Even his performance of 2011 is nothing to scoff at – he hit 33 home runs and drove in 116 runs. That year, though, he batted just .253 – a stark contrast from his MVP season.

This season, Howard and the Phillies are 42-53 at the All-Star Break, trailing the first-place Washington Nationals and Atlanta Braves by a solid 10 games. One of the most glaring weaknesses of this year’s club has been its poor play at home. The Phillies are 19-29 at Citizens Bank Ballpark this season, as opposed to a 23-24 mark on the road.

With Ryne Sandberg‘s club at the bottom of the division, it may be time to ask what is to be done with Howard. MLB Trade Rumors touched on this question in a recent article detailing the trade market for first basemen around the league:

"Howard, meanwhile, has continued to fall off and now owns a .220/.300/.381 triple-slash that is by far the worst mark of his career. Though he could have some appeal as a platoon partner and bench bat, he is actually performing worse against righties than lefties at this point (.671 OPS vs. .711 OPS). More importantly, the $60MM guarantee left on his contract after this season serves as something of a deterrent, to say the least. Odds remain low that he will be dealt, for that reason, but surely Philadelphia would listen if any other club showed any interest in taking any part of that deal."

What teams – and many fans – likely realize at this point is Howard isn’t his former self anymore. His struggles have become well-documented and there’s no guarantee he stays healthy the rest of the year, given he hasn’t played a full season in three years. The first baseman’s power could be a draw, but as noted, the $60 million still owed to him means that the Phillies will probably have to hold on to Howard in hopes that he can figure things out at the plate in the final years of his contract.