Werth boos Amaro, via text message
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Werth boos Amaro, via text message
Daily News staff
Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. appeared on Fox29’s “Good Day” show this morning and said he was booed in a text message from former rightfielder Jayson Werth.
Amaro was taking questions from the station’s Facebook friends. Amaro was asked: Why did you say signing [Cliff] Lee would be better for the club than signing Werth?
“I love the guy,” Amaro said about Werth, who signed a free-agent deal with the Nationals. “I wish we had him back. Sometimes you have to make tough choices. For us, having a No. 1 starter as compared to a righthanded bat, the impact on our club was greater.
“Is that the right way to look at things? I don’t know. For me, it is. I got a long text message from him last night booing me, in classic Philly style. He was upset. But hey, that’s how it works sometimes. Business is business. There are tough decisions.
"I think he was half kidding. We were joking back and forth. I told him he could still have been on our club if he accepted arbitration.”
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Buy 2011 Phillies tickets Comments (90)
Good luck Jason and Cliff,Philly Phan are stupid,so your saying jason suppose to play for free ,he's better than Utley,Utley should have gave some money back,but he didn't did he— dmac6419
He would have never accepted that deal but come on...nobody, not even his "superagent" thought a team would offer him that. The Nats came up with that offer on their own. Who wouldn't jump on that? I know I would. Him and his family are set for life now.— Kojack- Lots of players toil in despair on bad teams and dream of getting to a winner late in their career before they retire (and aren't affraid to leave a bit on the table to do it). Werth was on a winner dreaming of making boat-loads of money with a loser. Dream realized. Look, we keep discussing the 'money' as if the guy would've been a homeless person if he stayed here. Facts are, even if he wanted to work for the paultry sum of say 10million/year in Philly, he could NEVER have done that. He'd be killed by every other player in baseball, the players union etc. So, let's stop acting like players have the ability to take less to go/stay where they want to play. In Lee's case, he actually got MORE per year in Philly. What he left on the table was in 'years' not cash. In year 6 and 7 he'll still be in baseball making money somewhere so it's not like he's not getting paid somewhere for those years. So, 7 years from now, let's see the TOTAL money Lee has been paid by then and then see if it's actually less than what NY or TX offered...I suspect he left NOTHING on the table. It's basic math.— SaganRand
- Come on people. The pressure between JWerth and Ruben Jr to get a "deal" completed started by the media way back during the spring. Back when every opinion-head with a press credendial had to make comments on how this is JWerth's last year with the Phillies. The choir got even louder when moneybags Howard landed his deal. This didn't help Jason's case at all. But it did prove that Amaro is willing to fork out the big bucks when necessary. So, stop with the piling-on on JWerth. The level of appreciation wasn't in the front office so, he left. Just like Cliff Lee left when he wasn't appreciated enough. But Werth's heart is still a Phillie. In Washington, JWerth will still be the best defensive Right-fielder in the NL. And he still will come in at .290/30homers. Consistant. As a fan all I'm asking for from Amaro is don't fake us out - REPLACE THAT. Amaro is smart enough to do it.— Rap Tor
Washington has already lost two major league franchises. Any bets on how long before this one seeks to move to a better baseball city?
Comment removed.- 2011: Werth vs the Phab Phour - .185 with a 40% K rate— jhjack
- Perhaps Werth was trying to reach Chase's wife???? Now that requires a 700 level Boooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!— defiore14
- Jayson could learn something from Cliff Lee.....money is not everything and the highest $$ contract offer may not always be the best. Enjoy Washington and all those last place finishes.— Tar Heel 1
- They all chose the money. It's a business. Anyone playing for free?— tellitso
- I think Werth's true self is coming out. He is a petulant, jealous individual.— pa-teacher
- It's tough to leave a winner and be a big fish in a smaller pond. My experience in life is stay put, forget about coin when it gets excessive, live within your means and smell the roses..That said I wonder how Ryan is going to look with no one of Werth's stature behind him?— ctvince
- Werth would have won his arbitration and had the best of both Worlds. His RBI numbers will almost certainly drop in DC and he's not about to see any post-season money down there. Werth's agent is also the agent for Domonic Brown. Answering a question about Brown's dismal year, the agent suggested he was "tired." How do you get tired playing in just 70 games and with a batting average hovering around .200? He certainly didn't get worn out running the base path.— wbramh
- Thanks for everything JW. Good job Amaro. Go PHils!!!
- The Nats' won't win it all in the next 7 years? For sure? You never know. Who would've thought the Marlins would get to the playoffs in 1997, their fourth year ever, let alone beat the Yankees and win it all? All it took was a billionaire owner who told his GM (now with Detroit) to go for it. He did. He bought a lot of great players, including pinch-hitting Darren Daulton, and they won. Sure, they dis-assembled in embarrassing fashion the next year. But, they had their ring -- and another to come.— eman
- The reason the Nats won't win it all over the next 7 years is because DC hasn't had anything to cheer in baseball since Walter Johnson was their ace.
Anyway, billionaires aren't going to invest any more than millionaires. Having you heard? Billionaires are so broke that the rest of us have to pay their taxes for them.— wbramh - werth is not going ever see a ring with the nationals— hannigan
- Werth took the money because he had to and good for him. How he earns the money will be by toiling in anonymity for the Nats, seeing his numbers fall significantly because 18 games against Washington will be replaced by 18 games against the Phillies, and getting booed by his "home" crowd when half of them are Phillie fans. I'd do that too for $60 million, but it isn't going to be fun for him.— jtj06
- No contest Werth wasn't worth it. Lee gets my vote all the way..— Willysoup
- I love Werth, he made his decision and will make Millions and Millions but he will never see the playoffs or world series again... unless he watches it on TV!— jmb53
- Werth got his $126M, what is he complaining about? He was paid double what he was worth. Instead of cursing the Phillies, be thankful you are rich beyond any reasonable dream.— fmMD
- Sorry Jason, you drank Boras' Kool Aid , you took the cash, now enjoy your 90 loss season. Nobody to blame but yourself.— drbob1
- Lee over Werth; it's essentially a no-brainer. Let's say Lee wins 18 games, and there are another 5 the Phils come back to win after he's lifted; doubt Werth alone would count for 23 wins.
Here's another neat thought. I didn't look up whether the Phils open at home or not, but wouldn't it be classy for Charlie to start Cole the first game? After all, he was WS MVP 2 years ago, and has been a Phillie all along. He could be the #1 ace on some staffs, and now, he is quickly relegated to #4. I just think it would be cool for Charlie to start off with him.— JosephL - Jayson who?— ArtMooney
- Werth realizes he just made the biggest mistake of his life. Let him have his moment to get it out. He'll have to live with his decision for 7 long years, give him a couple of days to show his buyer's remorse. This is all entirely of his own doing, but you gotta feel for the guy. Imagine signing up for $126 guaranteed bones and feeling awful about it within a week. That's messed up.— guru26
- Cliff took less to be here, Werth took more to go. Werth takes Arbitration, no Cliff.
Pretty basic. I know he wanted to stay, but and I would have loved for him to remain a Phillie. But even he has to admit that the Nationals paid WELL above market value for him.
What's more, he's going to a team without Utley, Howard, Victorino, or Rollins. They're going to be expecting him to be THE man.
The Nats gave him an absurd contract. I can't blame him for taking it. I'd have probably taken it. He'll be thankful he took it after he retires. He'll have a heck of a lot more money going to the nationals.
It's not evil. It doesn't reflect poorly on him. The Nationals fans may be pretty upset about it in a few years, but in the mean time, I hope he has a great year.
I hope Dom Brown has a great year too though.— walcraeb - The more we learn about Werth's personality the happer I am that he is gone. Doubt he'll ever be back, because if you can't be happy with $120,000,000...................
- I sure would take 17 million a year. I'll never see that amount of $$ in my lifetime. If he wanted to stay so much, he should have accepted arbitration. But then again, the Phillies would not have Cliff Lee.— SallyAnn
- Werth is an idiot for leaving. It's always about winning when you are given the big money. Then it turns into A-Rod and wants to be traded to a winning team. Poor guy. Its a shame 17 million a year for four years just couldn't be enough. Feel bad for him.— tom2565
- Just thought I'd mention this. I live about 15 minutes away from the Nationals Spring training site in Melbourne, Fl. Anyone have a personal message for Mr. Werth. No CUSSING PLEASE! I do plan on wearing my Phillies attire as I always do.— Philly_TEAMS_fan_in_Fla
- Man, Werth was pretty classy for the most part. There was the f-bomb at the dad in foul territory, a few baserunning mistakes and his crummy avg with RISP this year. Lost in all of this is that he's 31 years old, a great player and this was his first chance at a big payday. Alot of you forget that he was a big part of our run and, when everybody else was hurt, Jayson Werth carried us. Y'all act like his text to Ruben was a direct slap in your face when it was between those 2 men alone. This Cliff Lee signing has a bunch of you acting like Yankees fans. The media is hyping every angle and playing most of you like the puppets that you are. Show a little class Phillies fans.— vafan
- Comment removed.
- you got to be kiddin me. come on Jayson you should have stayed.
Maybe there is a clause for you to get out of the Nats contract and maybe Rube can work something out.— Bob65S 
I'd like to boo Werth for all of his stikeouts, and lack of clutch hitting. Sure, Werth took alot of pitches, but when you swing so hard your knee hits the ground, that's not good. If the Phils can get someone behind Howard that doesn't swing wildly, like Burrell and Werth did, watch out!— mccarte1- Comment removed.
(3) Playoff Teams will to pay what Lee got and more for his services
(1) Bottom of the barrel franchise willing to pay Werth— KINGOFZED- Sorry JWerth, really would have loved for you to stay, but your are gone. So, have fun down in Washington where you will never be on a wining team again. Hey at least you still have red in your uniform, so you can at least pretend your on the Phils.— Static87
I always liked Werth, until he lost interest at mid-year after Ryan Howard signed for $25M a year. Werth reacted like a pouting diva, which really surprised me.— The Monk- It remains to be seen whether or not these transactions work well in the long run for all concerned. Certainly Jayson would have preferred to persuade the Phillies to "show him the money". After he saw that they chose Lee over him, he felt a degree of rejection. He will realize over time that few of us get the cake and eat it too. It is bittersweet for the Phillies also, as they wish they could have kept Jayson in the fold. Timing played a huge factor. If Jayson decided to compromise he would still be the right fielder, no question. The money was so overwhelming and the Phillies had evaluated the amount of years they were willing to go. The Phillies at some point last week had that feeling of rejection. All the parties now move on and should wish the other well.Jayson was able to get the big bucks because the Phillies gave him that opportunity. All good.— leecee
- Werth began to publicly show himself to be an a-hole last spring, with surly treatment of reporters, bristling at the mere mention of his beard, culminating in his abhorrant treatment of a fan midseason. And now this. If anyone had reason to be bitter that we let him go, it was Lee last season. But he wasn't. He realized it was a business and the Phillies did what they thought was best, right or wrong. On the other hand, Werth has a LOT to be thankful of the Phillies for, from giving him a last opportunity when he was on the scrap-heap, to allowing him to be a full time player. And because of that he hit the lottery. Instead of lamenting what might have been, he should be occupying his time embracing a situation that HE chose. Classic poor attitude.
Very good player, but I have to say that I'm not sorry that he's gone.
Honestly, adequate hitters are not that hard to find (see Cody Ross and Pat Burrell for the Giants last season). Top of the rotation pitchers are incredibly hard to find and acquire. It's hard to fault us for putting a premium on the latter over the former, especially when we have a potential young stud coming up (Brown).— Bill Lame Beer - The Phillies shouldn't have trouble landing a right-handed batter. Any sane hitter out there is going to look at the Phillies roster and salivate at the chance to play on this team.— Carcharios
I do believe that Werth might be regretting his decision...— DaveCicc- Doesn't Madson have Boras as his agent? If so, maybe we need to develop a set up guy this year.
- Different take: Werth was too defensive to text Amaro about what he said. But, Amaro by no means had to make that text public. He could have called Werth at some point and privately explained. Werth was a crybaby on a day when he should have just been celebrating. Amaro was mean-spirited in embarrassing Werth publicly. I don't like what either one of them did.— eman
- Can't wait to see that dumb stare on Jayson after one of the big 4 strikes him out with RISP!!! Ha Ha— george22
- did he throw any batteries via text?— chadp1234
If Werth didn't already have his ring, I bet he does take arbitration and stay another year in an attempt to win a WS before testing the market. I'm betting it's a lot easier to take the money and run once you get your name in the books as a champion.— jpk- Hey Jason..now you can play in front of...say 5,000 fans...have fun.. unless the Phillies come to town..then you can play in front of a sell out...probably can't stand the noise...
- Werth is the man... he came up big for us on many occassions. He carried us through some periods and took some pressure off Rhimo. Let's not bash the guy. Let's wish him the best and focus on our guys...As a life long Phillies fan, we've NEVER had it this good. Glad Phifer is back with us!!!— sashby
- congrats to raj for getting mr. Lee back in philly. Mr Werth if you thought you were good enough to get all that money you should have stayed. Mr Lee showed its not always money. Maybe you thought you were good enough to get all that money, maybe a little jealous of mr. howard getting all that money. all in all mr. Werth have a good life in washington, i can not wait for the first series and you keep striking out.— rfklak
- jayson, c'mon, you're putting this on RAJ? you're the one who signed with the gNats... this is what you get when you sign with borass. he doesn't negotiate; he works the count to get the highest dollar amount...you didn't know this? grow the f up; and welcome to the real world pal.
WTF are the points next to the comments?- Next up, Manny Ramirez as the right-handed bat in the 5 hole.— tjkay8
- Werth is just jealous that he's going to be watching the Phillies in the post season on TV. He made his choice. It was the opposite choice of what Lee made. To Werth, the money was the most important thing. He should learn a lesson from Cliff Lee. When the money reaches a certain point, getting a little more isn't that important anymore. I think a lot of it comes down to ego...and Werth certainly is at the top of his game in that department.— SteveS11
- What he doesn't know is Amaro booed him first when he hired Boras.— EL Zorro
- Long, angry text after turning down a very good offer and going to a last place team who made you an even bigger millionaire.
If he wasn't kidding, Werth has no class— VicM - Very simple answer is: Lee is worth the investment. Werth will not live up to his new salary. Phillies made the right decisions.— billtfla
- It is difficult to turn down millions, but the right choice in terms of the satisfaction of winning and playing for the best fans in America, and what has become the best franchise in MLB. That is what truly makes competitive guys who love the game happy. And, oh by the way, they are still multi-millionaires playing a kid's game every day. Just one look at Werth's miserable face while putting on that horrid Nationals hat and jersey, compared to the huge smile on Lee's face, tells you all you need to know about who is happier.— topwonk
- Absolutely DennyP. Werth should be applauded for his contributions to the Phils over the past three years, not booed when he shows up with Washington. Maybe after he smacks a game-winning hr, but not for leaving for a better contract.— chris in indy
- Comment removed.
- I love(d) Werth and wish he was still in RF for the Phils. But Scott Freaking Boras? You lay down with dogs you get fleas.— erbower
- Enough already. Werth helped us get a ring and was part of some all-time great Philly teams. For that absolutely no reason we should be talking smack or this guy get booed. Did he jump ship for the money? Sure. So what. Good for him the Nationals are morons. It's not like he jumped ship before getting the job done.— DennyP
- One guess who will be a huge target of our boos this year when playing the LAST PLACE Nats. Enjoy that money, JW. All of a sudden you now have free time in Octobers!— deanm828
Sounds like a bit of "Seller's Remorse" from our friend Jayson. Sorry big fella, but you made your own bed on this one...- Werth is a chump. he leaves for the cash and now wishes he could be on the phils. punk a**.— Don Cornelius
oh stop bashing werth. he helped win us a world series, now he's getting paid. wish him the best and get over it. if any of you were offered a 40% increase in salary and a long term rock solid commitment and roughly only 7 more years to be able to work, after you had injuries that nearly kept you from working, and would have left you on disability, you'd take it all. it's not greed. look around, people are BuhRoke. you have to go with cash security especially when your previous injuries could hit you again anytime. i don't get the hate. with mcnabb i get the hate. with werth, he's gonna retire with his phillies world series ring. plus, you never know what a difference a year makes, he could be back.— Evilvet- Comment removed.
- Surely you don't think Werth had a good year at the plate.
It would have been nice to keep him, but he was a terrible situational hitter last year. What was his average with RISP?— fmMD - .138 w/ RISP and 2 outs. - dead last in the NL. — F. Harry Stowe
@potus - since thats Charlies job to set lineups it would be him not Raj
Sounds like Werth has a man crush on Lee!— pritter- Grazman: I agree. There actually is FOUR number one starters on our team.— Clem
- @Potus - He said "a" number 1 starter, not "the" number 1 starter. It's widely believed that they are both No. 1 starters.— Grazman
- I think trading Werth for Lee -- what the Phillies essentially did -- is OK given that Werth has shown signs of being on the decline. But the Phils better find a right-handed bat to hit behind Howard -- could Jimmy Rollins be it?— cno711
Welp, Mr Werth. If you hadn't has the greediest agent on Earth chirping in your ear about contract length and highest dollar amount, you'd still be a member of the Phillies.- RAJ is showing that he learned from Gillick. If this move doesn't motivate EVERY batter in that lineup to get in the cages NOW, I don't know what will.— MichaelZoe
- Werth will be back before his contract is over when the Nats need to dump salary and agree to eat half of it just so the Phils will take him of their hands— tealradish
who's telling Roy Halladay that Rube's calling Cliff Lee his #1 starter?— potus
...just kidding.- Lee is gonna give Werth the "brush back" pitch!
- Hey Jayson - you chose the money - end of story. Next....— PhillyExcitement
- Right on, PhillyExcitement. — locofan
- Yeah, honestly, JWerth, love you man, wish you were here, but you have not a leg to stand on here. RAJ is 100% correct -- accept arbitration if it means that much to you.— Evo621
- ahhaha! "I think he was half kidding"...so that means he was half serious? This s**t is like Days of Our Lives.— WerthsOtherWife
- Comment removed.
- Werth is 100% jealous that he is not playing for the Phillies anymore, and its showing it. Go strikeout, not hit with runners in scoring position, come up small in clutch times, and swim in your millions that you do not deserve.— Bthuff80
- Was it me or did Werth not look happy when he did the press conference with the Nats? He definitely looked down in the mouth - very different than his friend Cliff did yesterday.
— uteowl - Some players sign for less in order to help the success of the team. Nobody blames him for taking th Nats deal I'm sure. Would he do it again?? Hope this type thinking won't bring him down because he's got class. — gubbers97
- I wouldn't ask Cliff Lee about signing for less. He did defer his pay a year, but $120 Million for 5 years or possibly $135 million for 6 years is a lot more attractive than $148 million for 7. — wolfburn
- Runners in scoring position? Come on... it's the Nationals. How often is he going to get the chance to not hit with Runners in scoring position there?
— walcraeb
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