Posts Tagged ‘Jayson Werth’

According to Yahoo! Sports, Werth may need to lose the beard.

“The team policy is, facial hair is OK, but it’s got to be groomed,” Rizzo said Monday night. “It’s got to be nicely … professionally groomed.”

Good thing he won’t have to grow a playoff beard in Washington.

7 years. $126 million. Washington Natinals.

Can’t really blame the guy for cashing in on his only opportunity as a free agent. He never really had a true free agency period, since he was pretty much an unknown before the Phillies gave him a second chance in the majors. We all knew this was coming, especially after his breakout 2009, followed by declining the Phillies extension offer this past summer. Still doesn’t make the sting feel any better.

We knew the Nationals were going to at least attempt to make a big move this offseason, but few probably took them seriously. You’re not making the playoffs in the foreseeable future, especially if Strasburg is done until 2012. So why overbid on a free agent that’s going to make a minimal impact on your current team? Losing Adam Dunn hurt, but replacing him Werth isn’t magically going to equal wins. They gain 1.1 WAR from last year… yippee!

It’s really Ruben’s fault for letting it come to this. Rather than continuing Gillick’s plan (signing under the radar players – Dobbs, Werth, Durbin, club friendly deals – Rollins, Utley), he has constantly bid against himself on free agents and current players. His biggest mistake is always being ready to offer one too many years (Lidge, Moyer, Ibanez, Blanton), which has now spilled over into our ability to keep key pieces on our team (Werth, Lee). We could have had Werth if we really wanted him, but Ruben’s too nearsighted to plan ahead for the future. We’re officially losing the 2nd best OF in all of baseball (15 WAR over his last 3 seasons), because Ruben’s about a proficient at managing salaries as Andy Reid is at managing the clock.

Blame Ruben’s inability to be even a competent general manager, not Werth’s decision to leave.

Happy trails, man. Happy trails.

Seven years, $126 million. Wow.

The Phillies will receive the Nationals’ second-round draft choice and a sandwich pick. They will not receive the first-rounder, since it is protected.

It’s something we all knew was coming, no matter how much some of us might have tried to deny it.

I can’t possibly be mad at Werth for leaving. He gave us four awesome seasons. Then he got an insanely lucrative offer, and this was his one and only shot at a huge payday.

I think the Phillies are going to sorely miss his production next year, but even if not, I’m going to miss having my favorite player on my favorite team.

At least now I can, and will, buy a Werth jersey without breaking the bank. So I got that goin’ for me. Which is nice.

So, Jayson, thanks for the memories. Hitting three homers against the Blue Jays. Stealing all three bases on Russell Martin. All the big postseason hits that helped us win a World Series and two NL pennants. That glorious beard. I hope you’ll get a warm reception each of the many times you’ll return to Philadelphia as an opponent over the rest of the decade…but I sincerely doubt it.

Enjoy your money. And fourth place.

Sincerely,

Still Your Biggest Fan

Not much Phillies stuff to talk about today other than Kendrick turning in another solid four innings in a 4-3 loss to the Orioles, so here’s a picture of Jayson Werth stroking his glorious beard in deep thought.

You could make him a Phillie

As promised, today I’m going to be looking at trade opportunities to cut payroll in 2011.

For the purpose of this analysis, I’m going to assume the Phillies exercise buyouts on Juan Castro and JC Romero giving them 7 mil to play with over 6 roster spots.

When creating an unrealistic “let’s trade X, Y, and Z for all your base”-type discussion, it’s important to play the game with players who actually have value in trade.  This means moving them should provide us some payroll relief while their contracts shouldn’t be such that we can’t get anything in value back.  I will not condone Luis Castillo for Jason Heyward speculation.  If the following appears absolutely impossible then I didn’t do my job.

The 2011 roster has three players that fit the criteria: Cole Hamels (1 year, 9.5m with a final arb year), Shane Victorino (2 years, 17m), and Ryan Howard (1 year, 20m).

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Or: Not Another Beard Post

See what I did there?

Did you guys know that this Jason Worth character grew a beard this off-season? Also his hair is kind of long, too. As a matter of fact, he closely resembles Jeff Bridges from that one movie he was in!

We all know Werf hasn’t been very forthright with information about his choice of coiffure; preferring just to let his mane speak for itself (which it has, at length.) My good pal Dave Brown was ballsy enough to ask Jayson if he could touch it, just to prove that it was real. Spoiler alert: hell no.

But just how far has Beard Mania™ gone? Well, pretty gosh darn far. Far enough that the bigwigs at the venerable Topps Trading Card Company have taken notice and may consider preserving the legacy that is Jayson Werth’s Beard in a very, shall we say, personal manner. Check out how after the jump.

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