Think of the some of the worst contracts in the majors. John Lackey, Dice-K, J.D. Drew, Alfonso Soriano, Barry Zito would all fit the bill in this case. How about Philadelphia Phillies slugger Ryan Howard?

This proposition may seem a bit extreme to some, but don’t be fooled. He’s no longer the Ryan Howard that won the 2006 NL Most Valuable Player Award with these gaudy numbers:

2006: .313 AVG, .425 OBP, .625 SLG, 1.084 OPS, 58 HR, 149 RBI

At that point in his career (and the following year) he was arguably one of the best baseball players on the planet.

However, he’s seen drastic declines in production since the 2007 season. From 2008 to 2011 his numbers look like this:

2008: .251 AVG, .339 OBP, .543 SLG, .881 OPS, 48 HR, 146 RBI
2009: .279 AVG, .360 OBP, .571 SLG, .931 OPS, 45 HR, 141 RBI
2010: .276 AVG, .353 OBP, .505 SLG, .859 OPS, 31 HR, 108 RBI
2011: .253 AVG, .346 OBP, .488 SLG, .835 OPS, 33 HR, 116 RBI

Now these numbers are not horrible by any stretch of the imagination, but they aren’t the MVP type numbers Howard pumped out in 2006 and 2007, not even close.

Out of a sample of 19 everyday major league first baseman this season, Howard ranks fifteenth in average, twelfth in on-base percentage, ninth in slugging, and eighth in OPS.

Plain and simple, Ryan Howard is no longer an elite first baseman despite being paid like one. His name isn’t even in the same league as Prince Fielder, Albert Pujols, Adrian Gonzalez, Miguel Cabrera, Joey Votto, Paul Konerko, and Mark Teixeira.

In 2010, the Phillies signed Howard to a 5 year, $125 million extension. He’ll make $20 million a year in 2012 and 2013, then $25 million a year from 2014-2016.

This all leads to the question, how does his lucrative contract match up to some of his statistical equivalents contracts from the 2011 season?

His fWAR (fan graphs version of wins-above-replacement) sits at a pitiful 1.6. Here are a few first baseman with higher fWAR than Howard with their corresponding 2011 salaries in parentheses.

James Loney- 2.3 ($4.875 million)

Mark Trumbo- 2.3 ($414,000)

Carlos Pena- 2.6 ($9.959 million)

Casey Kotchman- 2.8 ($3.517 million)

Gaby Sanchez- 3.0 ($431,000)

Michael Cuddyer- 3.1 ($10.5 million)

Certainly not a group of recognizable or prominent names here but one could argue that they’ve all exceeded Howard this season, statistically.

Ultimately, his downfall revolves around his inability to hit left-handed pitching. It’s probably the one thing he does poorly, and he does it really poorly. His triple slash line versus right handed pitchers (.298 AVG/.397 OBP/.623 SLG) differs immensely from his triple slash line versus left handed pitchers (.231 AVG/ .311 OBP/ .438 SLG).

These splits are a major problem and a problem that has only intensified as his career has progressed.

Fortunately for the Phillies, he still has the ability to hit baseballs upward of 470 feet, and the fact that he’s still smacking three-run home runs in playoff games helps, as well.

The left-handed slugger picks up RBI in incredibly high numbers. 2011 was the seventh straight year in which Howard collected at least 100 runs batted in.

However, his huge RBI totals are likely more of a testament to the guys hitting in front of him during his career, like Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, Placido Polanco, and Hunter Pence.

For now, Howard will continue masquerading as the world-class first baseman that so many people wrongly perceive him as.

In reality though, he’s no more than an above average first baseman with a $125 million contract.

Jackson Alexander can be reached for comment at [email protected]