"Among the few certainties in life: On April 15, the tax man will come calling, and 2 months beforehand, folks will talk about Ryan Howard moving closer to the plate.

As the slugging first baseman walked into the clubhouse after the latest edition of stance-related questions, he smiled and said, "Nobody was telling me to move closer to the plate when I was hitting 58 home runs."

There is some element of truth to that. But after a year in which Howard hit "only" 31 home runs and posted a career-low .505 slugging percentage, manager Charlie Manuel has renewed his longtime quest to move his slugger closer to the strike zone. And despite Howard's joke about the matter - and a severe ankle sprain that might have contributed to his drop in production - he has shown some signs of acquiescence.

"We're negotiating that," he told reporters with a smile. "We're negotiating getting closer to the plate."

Howard said that he worked on the change in his offseason hitting sessions and that he will continue to do so during Grapefruit League play. The reason for the shift is twofold. First, it will allow Howard to cover more of the strike zone, which opposing pitchers have taken to attacking with offspeed stuff away."