On Jayson Werth

I'm going to do my best to refrain from the overused "Werth is Worth it" type play on words. To me, it's not Werth worth it. Damnit! I failed already.

Jayson Werth has never been my favorite Phillie.  Don't get me wrong, he has done great things for the Phillies over the years. I will never forget the time he stole home, or made great diving catches in right field to save runs. To me he was either hit or miss, and when he missed, he missed for awhile, and in big situations.

It is very strange to see Jayson Werth in a Nationals uniform.  I have a bittersweet feeling about the deal. I will get to follow his career closely, being in the DC media market. I'll be able to watch every game on tv to see how he does. I do believe he was overpaid, but who am I to judge? Good for him if he was able to ink that deal.  And by "he" I mean Scott Boras.  Seven years for 126 million.  Wow. Big time money for a big time (?) player.  The Nats are taking a gamble with him. He strikes out a lot. He has a questionable reputation with the fans.  However, there really aren't too many Nationals fans that go to the games on a consistent basis. That is one reason why I am confused about the whole deal. He is basically going from baseball heaven to baseball heaven only when good teams are in town and/or Strasburg pitches (but not 'til 2012!). The Nats have a small park, and as I have mentioned before, DC is not a baseball town.  Werth has been quoted that he doesn't like playing in fan-less stadiums.:

Regarding a very empty Sun Life Stadium:  [Philly.com]

"We're used to playing with 45,000 people," Werth said, "and here we had what, four?"

Well, he better get used to virtually no sellouts.  In fact, Nats fans set other kinds of attendance records. This was on September 20, 2010 on thenatsblog.com. Attendance that day was 10,999:, around 34,000 fans less than what Werth is used to playing in front of.

Anyway, Strasburg (in 2012), Harper (who knows when), Werth, Zimmerman, Pudge (not much longer)...this could be a better team this year and in the future. Dunn is gone. The pitching is questionable. Nyger Morgan is a loose cannon. Jordan Zimmerman is still developing.

The jury is still out and will be for awhile.  I just hope Werth doesn't expect them to contend any time soon.  Maybe they will, who knows. Jayson sort of traded winning for money, in my opinion.

I do wish him luck, just not when the Phillies are the opponent.  I am curious to see what kind of reception he will get from the Philly fans too, when he plays at Citizens Bank Park. I expect a mixture of boos and cheers, some "thank you" signs, and some "he wasn't Werth it" signs. 

Stay tuned.