My Fellow Phans,
I apologize for this being later than expected, but various birthday festivities kind of fell in the way yesterday of me getting time to sit down and type.
Now that it is the morning after, and I have taken my pill, I have a brief time to sit down and finish up look backs amongst the starting lineup. After this, I will cover some starting pitchers, followed by our closer. I am grouping the bench together as one post and the same with the remaining members of the bullpen for the sake of time. At my current pace, if I did everyone individually, the 2011 season would have started already before I get done these and that would destroy the purpose of looking back. So, I feel that this compromise would prevent that from happening.
Anyway, we now resume our regularly scheduled programming with our look back at Phillies’ right fielder
Jayson Werth.
Jayson Werth: 2010 Stats .296 AVG 27 HR 85 RBI (Postseason: .200 AVG 2 HR 6 RBI)
Recap:
It’s hard to pinpoint the exact value of this last season from Werth. His numbers were good, as you can clearly see, and any outsider would assume that he had a quality season. That is not entirely false, although after seeing him play 156 games this season; we can safely say that this was not the same Jayson Werth that we had seen these past couple of seasons. He was the only Phillies regular not placed on the DL this season.
Despite his numbers, Werth did not have truly that strong of a season. He seemed to turn striking out into a way of life. Granted he struck out more times in 2009, but he had that blistering hot start to 2010 and rarely struck out. During the middle months of the season, it seemed he “K”ed every single at bat. He couldn’t do squat with runners in scoring position either. He hit .186 with runners in scoring position and just .139 with 2 outs and RISP.
I know I had at least two posts on this particular blog circulating the idea of Werth’s head and heart not truly being present this season. I still stand by this statement. I think, for a majority of this season, Werth was not 100% in the game. His money and contract were on his mind and that affected his play. We’ll get more into that in our next section.
Looking Ahead:
Werth will not be with the Phillies next season. Any delusional fan that thinks otherwise is just in denial. Why won’t Werth be returning to the Phillies next season? Well, the answer is simple, it’s all about money. Werth has already stated this season that he has waited for this season his entire career, talking about his pending free agency. As I said there were times I questioned the location of Werth’s thoughts this season and I think this statement helps solidify that.
If that wasn’t convincing enough for you, here is piece of evidence 2: The hiring of Scott Boras. Now, I am not going to curse this man out for being a total a (insert nasty expletive here*) since I try to keep my posts generally G-rated, but we all know how Mr. Boras conducts his business. The fact that Werth fires his agent, and hires the most despised agent in all of baseball, whom is known for getting outlandish contracts for subpar players, see Jason Bay, is the second big clue. If Werth didn’t want as much money as he could get, he wouldn’t have hired Boras. But let’s face facts: he did hire Boras and money is exactly why he did it.
I have to say I am just really disappointed in Werth. Turning his back on the team that gave him his big break all because he’s a greedy little man. If it wasn’t for this organization, this wouldn’t be even possible for him, but somehow he seems to forget that. Farewell Jayson. I’ll enjoy watching you turn out to be yet another gigantic Boras bust. See Barry Zito…
Grade: B –
It wasn’t a great year for Werth nor was it a horrible one. The strike out barrage certainly didn’t help him.
Look for starting pitchers next! Starting with ace Roy Halladay.
Until we meet again Phillies fans; Happy Readings and Go Phillies
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