No, Ryan Howard did not hit a home run (at least in the normal context of the word "home run") on Saturday.

It's not his birthday. He did not get married Saturday, either.

He did, however, get a lot richer.

And all he did was watch another, young player cash in.

Miguel Cabrera, who was just in Clearwater earlier today before the rain came down and ended the Phils-Tigers game in the top of the fourth inning, agreed to a an 8-year, $153.3 deal according to ESPN.com.

That's an average of $19 million per year. If you recall, Ryan Howard won his arbitration case against the Phillies last month - he'll earn $10 million this year.

A year ago, Cabrera, then with the Marlins, went to the arbitration table and also won - earning $7.4 million. Obviously Howard did slightly better than that last month.

According to the report, Cabrera will be paid $11.3 million in 2008 and then earn an average of $19 million per season through 2016.

So what's Howard worth in the future? What kind of long-term, contract extension could he be looking at?

Given their similar years of experience, I think Cabrera is a better parallel to Howard than Alex Rodriguez. So don't doubt that this Cabrera deal doesn't come up in 10 months when the Phillies and Howard are once again talking dollars.

Here's a quick look at the 162-game averages of the young, right-handed slugging Cabrera - arguably the best, young right-handed hitter in the game - and Howard - arguably the most powerful young lefty in the game:

Miguel Cabrera .313, 31 HR, 118 RBIs, 101 runs, 189 hits
Ryan Howard .291, 51 HR, 139 RBIs, 101 runs, 168 hits

We'll see if their wallet sizes are that close this time next year...