Pete Mackanin 50-50 on whether to continue Ryan Howard platoon

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Pete Mackanin’s most significant decision after taking over as Phillies manager last season was to turn Ryan Howard into a platoon player. Mackanin made the decision to stop playing Howard against left-handed pitchers in August. Darin Ruf was installed as the starting first baseman against lefties. And he produced.

Barring an unforeseen development, Howard will be back for the final year of his contract in 2016, and Ruf will return, as well.

Mackanin will also be back.

So, will Mackanin employ a platoon again?

“I’m in the process of deciding that,” he said on Day 1 of the winter meetings Monday. “I’m probably 50/50 on that.”

Mackanin wants to see how Howard looks and performs in spring training before he makes a call.

“I expect him to be in good shape,” Mackanin said. “He’s come in in good shape [in the past]. Right now, I’ll wait until after Christmas to start thinking about exactly which way we’re going to go. Once again, he and I have discussed his issues with left-handed pitchers. It’s going to be part of the conversation. We’ll see what happens. I haven’t spoken to him, so I don’t want to say a whole lot either way. Just leave it up in the air for now until I speak to him personally.”

Since his hiring in October, general manager Matt Klentak has said numerous times that performance will dictate playing time.

He reiterated that Monday when talking about Howard, who turned 36 in November and is owed $35 million.

“Pete is the one that’s going to write out the lineup card every day,” Klentak said. “If Ryan Howard is performing, Ryan Howard is going to play. If he’s not, he’ll play less. And that’s not specific to Ryan, that’s true to everyone on our club and probably just about everyone in baseball.”

Howard missed the final two weeks of the 2015 season with a bruised knee. He played in 129 games and had 23 homers and 77 RBIs while recording a .720 OPS. Against lefties, he hit just .130 (13 for 100) with 40 strikeouts and a dreadful .418 OPS.

Ruf, meanwhile, earned playing time at first base against lefties by hitting .371 (36 for 97) with eight homers, 22 RBIs and a 1.107 OPS against them.

The numbers suggest the Phillies should go with a platoon at first base again in 2016. Will they? Time will tell.

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