Ryan Howard spoke with FanSided and The Baseball Insiders ss part of PAYDAY's new Low Key Legends initiative, an opportunity to reflect on the coaches, clubhouse staff and other unsung figures who shaped their careers — plus sharing playoff memories and thoughts on why some of baseball's biggest contributors rarely get the spotlight.
In the aftermath of the Philadelphia Phillies' dispiriting Wild Card loss to the Atlanta Braves — their fourth straight defeat in a postseason series dating back to the 2023 NLCS — everybody's got an opinion on which direction the team should go from here. Trade Bryce Harper? Bump Trea Turner to center field? Replace Don Mattingly? Seemingly everything is on the table.
Ryan Howard's opinion carries more weight than most. After all, he's got a pretty good idea of what it takes to get over the hump in October, having played a big part in Philly's last World Series title back in 2008.
Like everybody around the City of Brotherly Love right now, Howard's got thoughts on how Dave Dombrowski should navigate this offseason. He's not advocating for blowing up the roster, though. As he told FanSided, it's all about rethinking what you already have.
"I think the thing is with the Phillies right now, you've got these contracts," Howard said. "And if you can't necessarily move the contracts, that's OK, that's fine. But what you gotta do is ... kind of internally switch up your philosophy as to how you're going to go out and play."
Ryan Howard wants to see a different style of Phillies baseball in 2027
Howard is almost certainly correct that this Phillies core isn't going anywhere any time soon. It doesn't make much sense to move on from Harper or Turner unless you're getting something of real value in return, and their contracts figure to make that a tough sell to rival teams.
That doesn't have to mean that all hope is lost. Howard just wants to see Philadelphia play to its strength — namely, its pitching staff.
"You've got a great starting rotation with [Zack] Wheeler, [Cristopher] Sanchez and [Jesus] Luzardo right now," he said. "[Andrew] Painter I think is going to be kind of coming into his own."
Those four should still. give Philly a tremendous foundation upon which to build. From there, it's about leaning into and complementing that identity. To Howard, that means two things: re-signing Luis Arraez in free agency to introduce some more contact skills into a strikeout-heavy lineup and pouring resources into a bullpen that was all too shaky by the end of the season.
"You can never have enough pitching, but I think that really you just have to kind of look at the philosophy of what it is that you're doing ... and how you want to go out and play as a team."
That might not soothe Phillies fans who are hoping for a total overhaul this winter. But Howard knows better than anybody that all it takes is the stars aligning just once in order to scale the mountaintop. And Philly is still close enough that some shrewd moves could have them right back in the mix next year.
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