Phil Sheridan: Ryan Howard's big deal

With or without the new contract he signed yesterday, Ryan Howard was going to be with the Phillies through 2011. Look at it that way and his big deal - $54 million over three years - doesn't seem like such a big deal, at least to Phillies fans.

This contract means a lot more, to Howard and to the team and to the fans, than the numbers after the dollar signs. There is more meaning between the lines than in the legalese hammered out by general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. and agent Casey Close.

The Phillies could have controlled Howard's rights for three more seasons, paying him year by year according to the potentially divisive arbitration process. Either way, Howard would have been at first base and batting in the middle of the lineup. Maybe he would have made more money that way, maybe he would have made less. His production and health, as well as the economics of the sport, would have determined all of that.

This way, there is no annual debate over what Howard is worth. There is no chatter about how the Phillies are unwilling to take care of their young stars. There is no triggering the argument about whether Howard's home runs and RBIs outweigh his on-base percentage and high strikeout count.

With this deal, the Phillies now have the core of their World Series-winning team locked up long enough to make a run at another championship or two. Howard and Cole Hamels agreed to deals this winter. Chase Utley and Jimmy Rollins aren't going anywhere.

The most you can ask of a baseball team is to acquire and develop a championship-caliber nucleus of players and then follow through by paying what it takes to keep them together. That is what the Phillies have done here. And that's not bad for an organization that operated for years under the richly deserved perception that it couldn't accomplish either of those goals.

Howard has been a tough case all along. The team made mistakes early on. Not only did the Phillies hold Howard back while the Jim Thome era played out, they floated the idea that Howard's minor-league success wouldn't translate in the big leagues. That miscalculation cost Howard at least a season of major-league service time.

When he finally got to the Show, all Howard did was win rookie of the year and most valuable player awards in his first 1 1/2 seasons. All he did was pound home runs at a historic rate.

There is no formula that fits Ryan Howard when it comes to contract time. He is unique.

Amaro was correct when he said that Howard "earned" this contract. This deal wipes out whatever vestiges of resentment Howard might have had about the way he was brought along and compensated in the past. If $54 million doesn't buy a clean slate, that's on Howard.

But the deal also brings more responsibility for Howard. He isn't just the big kid with the ready smile and the refreshing lack of pretense now. He is the highest-paid player on a team filled with very good players. He wanted a deal that paid him like The Man and so now he is The Man.

This is the kind of contract you get for playing the way Howard did in September of last season, not for playing the way Howard did in April of last season. If he's going to be The Man, he has to become more consistent. He has to step up to that last level where the truly great ones are.

The good news for Phillies fans is that he is the right kind of person for that challenge.

Plenty of players get their big payday and then disappoint. There are almost as many reasons for that as examples. Some players become complacent. Some get inflated contracts based on a fluke season and return to form. Some put too much pressure on themselves to live up to the money. And some, we see now, use performance-enhancing substances until they get a large guaranteed contract and then stop.

So there is some risk in signing any player to a deal that puts $54 million in his bank account.

"The players will make us smart or dumb," Amaro told reporters yesterday. "You hope the players perform to their contracts. . . . Ryan is the kind of guy who won't be satisfied with the numbers he's already put up."

You have to like hearing that Howard is in Clearwater already and has been working on his defense. You've already seen what he can do when he gets hot. He can carry a team to the playoffs.

For their money, all the Phillies are asking Howard to do is what he's already done. That sounds like a fair deal.