Phillies Finally Take Away Ryan Howard's At-Bats, Howard Wonders Why Now?

Ryan Howard’s final season in Philadelphia has been rough. The Phillies are 60-73 and sitting in 4th place in the NL East and the 36-year old is putting up near career low numbers in every statistical category. And now, with just a few weeks left in the season, Howard is going to have his playing time reduced as manager Pete Mackanin wants to give more at-bats to Tommy Joseph. Howard, who has hit .202 against righties this season (Compared to .133 against left handed pitching.) is hurt by the news. Via the Philly Inquirer:

"“I’m just trying to play and go somewhere else and play. I think there comes a time when there needs to be more dialogue and more of an understanding of, ‘Why now?’ Now, when you’ve got three weeks left in the season? Why now? I’m going out and hitting and playing better and all of sudden it’s another wrinkle.”"

Mackanin obviously attended the Joe Girardi School of Retirement Tours. Oh, sorry. Howard isn’t retiring. The question is, who will sign him? As the Inquirer notes, Howard did have a pretty good August that included 6 homers. I wonder how his veteran leadership numbers have been looking.