Cha-ching!

There is a lot of contract news today, but the biggest is that Ryan Howard filed for $18 million in arbitration - only $4 million higher than the Phillies offer. Let the games begin.

The number is so high that only greedy New Yorkers Roger Clemens (I know he was an Astro at the time) and Derek Jeter ever put in for higher amounts. I don't expect Howard to be around Philadelphia much longer. According to Fan Graphs, he has only had one one season (2006) in which he was worth more than $18 million. He was worth $25.7 million in his MVP season, $17.1 million the next year and $14.1 million last year.

The Phillies avoided arbitration with Shane Victorino and Joe Blanton.

The Red Sox, meanwhile, kept in tact Theo Epstein's streak of never going to arbitration by giving a one-year $6.25 million contract to Jonathan Papelbon. Javier Lopez also signed a one-year deal.

I guess this is a fair deal for Papelbon - he's been worth more than $6.25 million the past three seasons - but it seems awfully high for a player in his first year of arbitration eligibility. Like Howard, I wonder if he's going to price himself out of Boston in a couple of seasons. The Red Sox have been hyping up Daniel Bard lately.

David Aardsma was traded to the Mariners. I still think he'll have a productive career, but it's better to trade him for a prospect than cut him in a numbers crunch at the end of spring training.

Personal: SoxandPhils players weren't the only ones cashing in today. Since I was forced into retirement from journalism, Christine urged me to start entering newspaper contests. I won two tickets to a St. Joe's basketball game. Yea! Although, if I had Howard's $14 million to $18 million, or even Papelbon's $6.25 million, I could buy tickets for all my readers.