Ryan Howard was the 2005 NL Rookie Of The Year, the 2006 NL MVP, 3-Time NL All--Star, 2-Time NL Home Runs Leader and 3-Time NL RBI's Leader.  But all of those accolades happened before he signed his 5 year, 125 Million Dollar deal before the start of the 2012 season.  Since then Howard has averaged less than 18 Home Runs per season and averaged a mediocre .234 Batting Average over the last four seasons.  This season Howard has hit 8 Home Runs and 18 RBIs but his .161 Batting Average is a major eye sore to see on paper and in the batter's box.

PhillyVoice.com Phillies Beat Writer Ryan Lawrence joined The Sports Bash on Monday and discussed what he thinks needs to be done with Ryan Howard moving forward:

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"Tommy Joseph had 6 Home Run in Triple-A, you know that's not nothing. He hit 6 Home Runs while having an OPS (On Base+Slugging Percentage) hovering around a thousand (.981) so I think I'd take the guy that is getting on base a lot more, driving the ball more and even though it's Triple-A, what I'm saying is just because Ryan Howard is hitting Home Runs doesn't mean the guy you replace him with isn't going to hit Home Runs. So I think Pete (Mackanin)'s going to hit a boiling point soon....I think they are going to sit down and eventually have a difficult conversation with Ryan Howard. it wouldn't shock me if Pete (Mackanin), (Matt) Klentak, (Andy) McPhail and Ryan all meet in a room, all four of them, and kind of lay all the cards on the table, they can get everything out, everyone has a voice and they can voice their opinions and no hurt feelings, everybody's just saying what needs to be said. And you might just have to ask Howard 'Listen, you are only under contract for four more months, would you rather us give you your walking papers or would you like to transition to a Matt Stairs-like role and be a guy that can pinch hit in the 9th (inning) and hit a Home Run?'"

Checkout what Lawrence had to say about the potential of the Phillies trading to help their offense along with Tyler Goeddel play getting better recently

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