Photos: 2008 Phillies
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One of those scouts was Phillies general manager Pat Gillick, then the GM of the Baltimore Orioles. Another was assistant general manager Mike Arbuckle, then the Phillies' national cross-checker.
"At that time he was real thin, and you had the dream that he would get stronger," said Arbuckle, one of the many baseball men who made the pilgrimage back in 1997. "But there were good raw ingredients."
Ten years later - after three major league teams and a broken wrist that cost him 2 years of his career - Arbuckle and Gillick, who ultimately drafted Werth with the Orioles, had enough belief in those raw ingredients to sign him to a free-agent contract. Now, Werth is hitting .270 with 23 home runs and proving that, when it comes to the thin line between contention and disappointment, the smallest additions can sometimes prove to be the best.
Like most of the major league teams who still harbor visions of World Series grandeur, the Phillies' roots of success are easily traced. The drafting of Chase Utley, Cole Hamels and Pat Burrell in the first rounds of their respective drafts. The development of Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins from immensely talented prospects to league MVPs. The acquisition of Brad Lidge.
But three wins away from their second consecutive playoff berth, the Phillies owe a large portion of their success to their ability to unearth and polish the likes of Werth, Greg Dobbs and J.C. Romero - players who, for one reason or another, did not make the leap from untapped talent to integral performer until landing in Philadelphia.
Werth, now 29 years old and in his second season with the Phillies, has worked his way from a platoon role to the everyday rightfielder. Dobbs, claimed off waivers in January 2007 less than a month after the Phils agreed to a free-agent contract with Werth, is hitting .300 with nine home runs and 40 RBI and has established himself as one of the top pinch-hitters in the majors. And Romero, signed as a free agent last season after being released by the Red Sox, has allowed just 18 earned runs in 58 2/3 innings (2.76 ERA) of relief.
While Gillick's tenure as general manager has included some high-profile disappointments - the signing of free-agent righthander Adam Eaton to a $24.5 million contract and the acquisition of righthander Freddy Garcia from the White Sox for young starter Gavin Floyd - his lower-profile additions have proven to be the difference between postseason contention and regular-season disappointment.
"I don't know if people understand that part of the game," assistant general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said "Everybody thinks you build teams based on the huge free agents that are out there and the big acquisitions, the big trades, and those sorts of things. The reality of it is, it takes not only those real good quality core players, it also takes being able to identify guys who are off the radar."
Gillick, who plans to retire at the end of this season, declined to be interviewed for this story. Throughout the year, he has lingered in the background, leaving the public spotlight to assistants like Amaro and Arbuckle, both of whom are candidates to replace him.
But regardless of how the Phillies finish this season, the currentteam is rife with Gillick's fingerprints.
Werth and Dobbs are two of the most obvious examples. In December 2006, Werth was at a crossroads in his career. A painful wrist injury suffered in 2005 during spring training with the Dodgers hampered him throughout that season and sidelined him for all of 2006. An outfielder who had converted from catcher after the Orioles traded him to the Blue Jays, Werth never had an opportunity to prove himself as a healthy everyday player. The Dodgers decided against re-signing him in the offseason, leaving him to field free-agent offers. Werth, who said Gillick expressed an interest in him partly because he thought he could still contribute as a big-league catcher, weighed his options and signed with the Phillies.
"I was kind of an unknown quantity; it was more of a, 'Why don't you come in and we'll find out,' " Werth said. " 'If things work out, it wouldn't be a bad place for you.' "
Dobbs was in a similar situation. Gillick was GM of the Mariners when Seattle drafted him in 2001. After the Mariners designated him for assignment in 2006 - Dobbs played sparingly in the previous three seasons - the Phillies decided to claim him off waivers.
"We weren't sure defensively where he fit," Arbuckle said. "But all the scouts who saw him, and Pat, who had him in Seattle, and [special assistant Charley] Kerfeld, who knew him, all of them said this guy has a very good swing, he's a good lefthanded bat with power."
Then again, nobody could have envisioned that swing translating into a .350 average as a pinch-hitter with 16 pinch RBI, ranking among the best in baseball.
"Sometimes you have to have a little luck," Arbuckle said.
Luck came into play when the Red Sox parted ways with Romero midway through last season. The lefthander had a 3.15 ERA in 23 appearances, but Boston needed to clear a roster spot and Romero was the casualty. The Phillies, who had been searching for a lefty reliever, bounced his name off their scouts and liked what they heard.
"They said, 'Hey, this is a serviceable guy who just kind of got squeezed out by the number,' " Amaro said.
Romero worked out for the Phillies in Clearwater, signed a contract and has established himself as one of the most reliable arms in the bullpen.
"I'm not sure [Boston] wanted to do it, but they had to make a move somehow and that was the move that they made," Amaro said. "We were fortunate."
With three games remaining, one could make a very coherent argument that the Phillies would not be knocking on the door of the postseason without Romero. Or, for that matter, Werth and Dobbs.
The backyard batting cage at the Werth household is now a distant memory. But the dividends live on. *
For more Phillies coverage and opinion, read David Murphy's blog, High Cheese, at http://go.philly.com/highcheese.
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