To properly understand the deal that sent Jayson Werth to the lowly Washington Nationals after spending the past five of his last six seasons in the playoffs, there is only one number that matters.
Seven.
That’s seven years with $126 million tied to it for a player who has been in one All-Star Game as an injury substitute and played just two seasons as an everyday player. In fact, it wasn’t until veteran Geoff Jenkins got injured that Werth finally got a shot to be the starting right fielder for the Phillies.
Now, he’s the centerpiece of the Nationals' offense after the team’s brass decided to let slugger Adam Dunn take a four-year, $56 million deal with the Chicago White Sox. Dunn, in comparison, has belted at least 38 home runs and driven in 92 RBIs for seven straight seasons. Moreover, Dunn is a 10-year vet who is actually younger than Werth.
So just what is it that general manager Mike Rizzo and the Nationals are trying to do? Or, is this the type of deal that solidifies Scott Boras as the agent most able to deliver the bottom line? More importantly, what’s the difference between a three year deal worth $16 million per season like the one CSNPhilly’s Jim Salisbury reported, and the $18 million Werth will get from the Nationals?
Surely those playoff shares make up the difference along with the idea of building a legacy as one of the few men to help the Phillies win the World Series.
Still, $126 million for seven years. Seven years!
“It is an elite player,” Rizzo said at a news conference from the Winter Meetings in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. “Elite players get a lot of money.”
In that regard, Werth and Rizzo are both shortsighted. After all, Werth isn’t exactly an elite player. At least he is not compared to Matt Holliday, whose contract with the Cardinals served as a model for the one Boras and Werth sought. Sure, Werth had strong numbers in categories favored by devotees to advanced metrics, posting a .921 OPS, .532 slugging percentage, .296 batting average and led the league with 46 doubles. But those numbers seemed to ring hollow. In 2010, Werth was incredibly streaky and certainly benefitted from batting behind Ryan Howard in the Phillies’ lineup.
Despite a favorable spot in the batting order, Werth hit a league-worst .186 with runners in scoring position and .136 with runners in scoring position and two outs. As a result, Werth was the poster boy of a July slump that saw the Phillies sink to 48-46 and fire hitting coach Milt Thompson. During a four-game series in Chicago to start the second half, Werth went 2-for-14 with nine strikeouts. He whiffed without even moving the bat off his shoulder in five of his first seven hitless at-bats.
Regardless, who would have thought Werth would be in this position when general manager Pat Gillick plunked him off the scrap heap before the 2007 season? When Gillick signed him in December of 2006, it was a move that slipped under the radar. The acquisitions of Abraham Nunez and Wes Helms rightfully made more news that winter.
Werth did nothing to change that in 2007 when he nursed injuries and appeared in just 94 games after missing all of 2006. Shane Victorino, a former teammate of Werth’s with the Dodgers and Phillies, remembered talking to Werth during his season spent adrift where the talk was about giving up.
“I remember him calling me in 2006 and telling, ‘Hey, I’m on a boat and I’m battling my wrist injury and it hasn’t gotten better and I don’t know if I’ll ever play again.’ He said that. That’s crazy,” Victorino said. “He was so frustrated with his wrist injury that he doubted it would ever get better. And now to see where he is today, I’m happy for the guy. I’m overly happy for the guy. Whatever he goes out and gets he deserves.”
Of course, that’s the player in Victorino talking. Rival general managers around the league are undoubtedly shaking their heads at the Nationals’ largesse. According to the Newark Star-Ledger, new Mets GM Sandy Alderson scoffed at the announcement.
“It makes some of our contracts look pretty good,” Alderson said. “That's a long time and a lot of money. I thought they were trying to reduce the deficit in Washington.”
Moreover, deep-pocketed teams like the Yankees and Red Sox quickly backed away from pursuit of Werth when they learned what he and Boras were after.
Perhaps it was postseason abilities that got Werth the big cheese? After all, in 2008 Werth was so good during the playoffs the Phillies let Pat Burrell walk away because they had a capable right-handed bat to put in the lineup behind Howard and Utley.
Then, when doubters wondered if he could handle the rigors of playing the full slate of games in 2009, he belted 36 homers, got 99 RBIs and made the All-Star team.
“When he first came here, he came here with a lot of talent. Pat Gillick always liked him, and he definitely was the one that kind of like wanted him and kind of persuaded him to like to come with us,” manager Charlie Manuel said. “It took him a while to really, I think, adjust to our team and really kind of get things going. I think that he was like he needed to play. He hadn't played in like a year, year and a half or something. And once he got started, he earned a spot and he actually beat Geoff Jenkins out of right field. He earned a spot to play, and he definitely enjoys playing here. He’s been a solid player for us, and he's got a ton of ability.”
Certainly postseason ability probably won’t matter in 2011 since Werth is joining a young team that rated in the bottom half in the league of every offensive category and just allowed a younger, perennial 40-homer slugger walk away. Worse, Werth joins a team that hasn’t had a winning season since 2003, when it was playing in Montreal, in a city that has not fielded a baseball team with a winning record since 1969.
The last World Series played in Washington, D.C. was 1933 when the first version of the Senators lost to the New York Giants. The city had a winner in 1924 when Walter Johnson came on in relief to beat the Giants in 12 innings of Game 7.
Then again, a lot can change in seven years. Back when the Phillies were battling mediocrity, it took a six-year, $86 million deal to Jim Thome to get folks to take them seriously. Plus, with phenom pitcher Stephen Strasburg expected to return from Tommy John surgery in 2012, a season that could be the arrival time for 2010 No. 1 draft pick Bryce Harper, the Nats could be building toward something.
Whether they get there with Werth, of course, is the big question.