Werth signs 7-year deal with Nationals
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Werth signs 7-year deal with Nationals
Matt Gelb, Inquirer Staff Writer
In the end, Jayson Werth took the money and the years. And a lot of each.
Werth signed a seven-year contract with the Washington Nationals on Sunday, worth a reported $126 million. It is a shocking twist of developments and a major coup for Werth and his agent, Scott Boras. The deal will accomplish exactly what Werth had wanted: His family is set for life.
And now, he will go to Washington as the face of the franchise and see the National League East rival Phillies 18 times a season.
"It is an elite player," Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo said at a news conference. "Elite players get a lot of money."
Washington signing Werth is somewhat of a blow to the Phillies because they will not receive a first-round pick as compensation even though Werth is a Type A free agent.
The Nationals have the sixth pick in the draft and the top 15 picks are protected by Major League Baseball from being moved as compensation. That means the Phillies will receive a second-round pick from Washington along with a compensatory pick in the sandwich round.
As officials from the Phillies and all around baseball convened to Florida for the annual winter meetings, it was a surprise beginning.
The Phillies, now, can officially move on from Werth -- something they were likely to face at some point during this off-season. It will be near impossible for the Phillies to replace Werth's production in rightfield, but they will search for possible platoon players, like Matt Diaz or Jeff Francoeur, to team up with Domonic Brown. That is, if Brown starts the season in the majors.
Much, much more to come. Now I'm getting on my flight to Orlando.
Carlos Quentin— dri_as_a_bone- Oh well. Turn down 126 mill? No way. I'll play in crappy Washington in order to get 126 mill. Besides, as bad as Washington was, they could be better in the future. It's a big rebuilding process, but they're not trending downwards.— trungy
- Stunning news...I thought the ceiling would be 4yr, maybe 5yr w/an option..but 7yrs? And at $ 18M annually? Very good player, but Nats got snookered. I could see him giving Philly a hometown discount, but this is beyond reason; he had to take these $, even tho he'll play w/a perpetual losing team— Polecat_39
- He still gets to play in front of Phils fans 36 times a year.— Theo1980
- Sorry I meant 18.— Theo1980
- I threw up in my mouth! I guess for the nationals to get a high caliber player like Werth, they needed to overpay. Let's just hope hitting behind Howard made him a whole lot better than he is!— atsipras
- Too much money to pay for a player who won't draw enough fans to help Nats pay for it.— Rick Wise Guy
- Wow. Knew he'd leave, assumed it would be for a contender. Can't blame him for taking the money, but the Nats still suck and have little to no shot as currently configured.— troubledog
- rich, running was W's top advisor. He did trade Sammy Sosa, didn't he?— mike l
- I wonder if Jayson will tutor the Nats young players on how to fall asleep on the bases. Remember when he got picked off 2nd on ball 4 of an intentional walk. JW had a lot of good days with the Phillies but mid season he seemed brain dead. With no one to protect him in the Nationals lineup his numbers figure to decline. I wouldn't be shocked to see the Phillies make a bold move. They have traded with Toronto a lot in recent years. How about getting Vernon Wells (RH bat, 31 HR, 88 RBI last year) and paying $10 million per year for the 4 years with Toronto picking up the rest of the $21-25M annual salary. It would give Toronto $10 million extra a year for 4 years. It isn't all that different than when ARod was traded from TX to NYY with TX picking up money.— Philliesguy
- "The deal will accomplish exactly what Werth had wanted: His family is set for life."
What a mindless observation. Just how many millions does one need to be "set for life????" Most of us would be very happy to earn a FRACTION of that. Gelb, get a grip. Sheesh.
— CarpGuy - Fret not. I have a friend down in DC that is really excited that the Nats got Werth. But he was also really excited when the Skins got McNabb too. It may take a little longer before they regret the Werth deal in DC, but not much longer.— Spazcat
- Rollins is going to have to be in prime form for the Phillies to contend for a WS series next year.— p-diddy
- amaro screwed up on lee and werth,so live with blanton and brown.— mfgra
- Utley is celebrating this evening!— leecee
