Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Werth's Deal: All About the Money

My Fellow Phans,

So, after having a few days to digest the Jayson Werth deal, and now that I have found time to sit down and just blog with you fine people, I will let my two cents in on the deal.

I recently read a post by a fellow Phillies’ blog that said Werth was not being greedy. He said baseball was a job and the goal is trying to get as much money as possible. While, I won’t mention the name of this blog, I will say that I disagree highly with his sentiments.

Playing baseball is not a job; it’s a privilege. There are not many people given the talent to succeed in baseball and those whom receive this gift are fortunate. There are many people, myself included, that dream of playing for a team that wins the World Series.  Unfortunately, I was never blessed with athletic talent so I just have to watch from the outside.

My question would be this: what on earth does a man need with 127 million dollars? The Phillies offered him around 48 million. Either way, it is a lot of money. Hell, I’d take 1 million dollars. Why did he have to take the more obnoxious amount of money for a team with a lower chance of getting him another World Series ring? 

The answer is simple: greed.

I have been saying this all season. Jayson Werth was going to the highest bidder. If an AAA team offered him 150 million to play, he would have gone there. It was all about money to him and always has been.  He got his ring, but something tells me even if we didn’t get him one, he would have left for the biggest paycheck anyway. I have had at least 3 blogs specifically about Jayson this season and I can look back now and say that I was correct all along.

His agent Scott Boras stated that nobody would match the Nationals offer so that is why Werth signed so quickly. Again, just further proof that it was all about the money.  If Werth wasn’t all about the money, explain to me why he decided to switch to Boras as an agent just shortly before he officially became a free agent. We all know his reputation and what he can do. Look at that and tell me it wasn’t all about the money.

To top it all off, Jayson Werth is not worth (no pun intended) all that money. Neither was Matt Holliday or Jason Bay, but the combination of the players’ greed coupled with the biggest A-hole agent out there turns it into one giant payday for the players. 

Anyway, I digress. This leaves the Phillies with no right fielder.

Dominic Brown is not ready to just jump into the role and become a superstar that we all know he can be. I am ok with the platoon idea as long as he actually gets playing time. We called him up last season, had him play for a while, and once Victorino came back, we ditched the guy to the bench for rare pinch hitting roles. That was not good for his development. If he was not going to play up here, he should have been in the minors playing every day. Not playing daily hurt his timing and that showed greatly at the end of the season.

I hear the name Jeff Francoeur thrown around. I can only ask, why. Francoeur is a human green light. He swings at everything, has no plate discipline and hasn’t had a good season since like 2007. I am actually reading a story as I type this that says he is close to signing with the Royals. I’d rather have Ben Francisco than Francoeur nowadays.

The guy that I wouldn’t mind having, Matt Diaz, recently signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Why? I’ll never know. The guy is not a superstar, but he is a quality player and could fit in nicely with our team. After all, he is better than his former Braves’ teammate.

With the pair of former Braves off the market, I have also heard the name Juan Rivera from the Angels being floating around. This deal I like. Rivera is a quality player and could fit in nicely in that platoon type setting.
Either way, the Phillies need a right handed bat in their lineup. I trust they know what they’re doing.

Until we meet again Phillies Fans; Happy Readings and Go Phillies! 

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