Ryan Howard is officially no longer with the Phillies

Just hours after the baseball season ended, the Phillies have cut ties with their long-time first baseman, Ryan Howard.

This, of course, was just a formality as everyone knew the slugger would not be retained next season.  The Phillies exercised their buyout option in his contract and are on the hook to pay him $10 million to not play with the club in 2017.  Although the amount is well above the average buyout, it prevents the Phillies from spending $23 million on him next season.

Howard will become an unrestricted free agent and can sign with any team once the market opens on Tuesday.  He’ll undoubtedly take a pay cut if he signs somewhere but will still have the $10 million in his pocket.

In 13 years with the Phillies, Ryan Howard hit .258/.343/.515 with 382 HRs and 1,194 RBIs.  His 1,572 games played in Philly are the seventh most of any player while his home run and strikeout totals trail only Mike Schmidt.