Ryan Howard as a Mariner? Good idea or bad idea?

CBS Sports reporter Jon Heyman reported that the Philadelphia Phillies are trying to off load first basemen Ryan Howard via the trade.

Right now Howard is in the 3rd year of his 5-year $125 million dollar contract with a $10 million dollar buyout option in 2017.

Howard is also batting .224 this year with a below-par .682 OPS, but he has hit 15 home runs with 60 RBIs.

If the Mariners were to trade for him the Phillies would eat up most of the money in his contract and could only give up Justin Smoak and Dustin Ackley and another prospect.

So basically you would be getting the same type of hitter who strikes out just as much for basically nothing.

But would Howard be a good fit in Seattle? Me, I’m not really a big fan about getting a guy who strikes out a crap ton but lets face it he wouldn’t be much different then Mike Zunino, Smoak, or Corey Hart really?

Actually Howard is very different. How you say? Well when Howard gets hits they are big hits that usually helps his team.

Whether it would be a double or one of his patented home runs he helps out the team win. So I would be for the Mariners getting Howard in a trade because for one thing it would mean the end of the “Justin Smoak era” in Seattle and it would mean the end of Corey Hart but the recent call ups will mark the end of Hart’s time in Seattle.

Now look again I would be all for trading for Howard but I think just one guy isn’t worth it, maybe if the Phillies threw in Marlon Byrd then I think I would be happy.

But if the Mariners were to trade for just Howard or get another player in return as well they would need to give a crap ton of players for just one or two players.

I think the Mariners would give up Smoak and Ackley for just Howard. For both Howard and Byrd the Mariners would need to give up Smoak, Ackley, Brandon Maurer, and Taijuan Walker.

The reason why the Mariners would need to give up so much for just one player is because again the Phillies would be willing to pay most of his contract and that means if the Phillies pay for Howard the Mariners need to give up at least 2 or 3 players for Howard.

Jack Z is going to have to think about this one cause with Byrd being linked to trade talks with Seattle and now Howard is another possible target he’s gotta think about who to give up. Its going to be an exciting 7 more days until the trade deadline.

Don’t forget to tune into Mariners Talk-powered by SodoMojo.com on Sunday at 7 PM PST. We had to cancel the Tuesday special trade talk edition and move it to Sunday for a full episode but we will be on the air on Sunday.

If you would like to call into the show please do and call us at 724-444-7444 and dont forget to put in the Call ID as well 129537#. 

Go Mariners!!!!!