Has Jayson Werth played his last game as a Phillie?


The Philadelphia Phillies have exclusive negotiating rights with impending free agent Jayson Werth until midnight of Saturday, November 6th. After that time, any of the other 29 clubs are free to negotiate contract terms with the coveted middle-of-the-lineup righty and utility outfielder.

The feeling in Philadelphia right now is that one of those other 29 clubs -- namely the New York Yankees -- will take full advantage and Werth's run as a Phillie will officially end.

And for me, that would be just fine as long as the Phillies make Werth a fair offer first. But the big question is, of course, what constitutes a fair offer?

Well, my idea of fair and Werth's idea of fair isn't going to match up. He doesn't deserve what Jason Bay or Matt Holliday got but, then again, neither did they. Werth, overall, had an average season at the plate and, if we're being honest, that's where most of the money is earned.

There's no denying Werth's talents as an outfielder. He's got a great arm, is very good at reading the ball, and is very rarely caught messing up.

But at the plate, he lacks the ability to come up big in crunch time (as evidenced by his dreadful average with runners in scoring position) and because of that flaw does not separate himself from a guy like Holliday.

But with all that said, he is a powerful righty and letting him walk creates an obvious void in the Phillies' lineup.

The team could fill this void with a power guy to platoon with either Raul Ibanez in left or Dominic Brown in right -- such as Andruw Jones, Pat Burrell, or Jeff Francoeur -- but simply holding on to Werth would be much easier.

However, the $15 million per season he's looking for is simply too much. He wasn't good enough in 2010 to warrant that type of contract and it's a deal the Phillies would regret in short order.

A guy making that type of money needs to be someone who's driving in runs on a consistent basis and not just hitting solo home runs. Sure, those runs count as much as an RBI single, but more often than not Werth is striking out or popping out with guys on second and/or third than he is cracking a long ball with no one on.

For me, if I'm a decision-maker on the team, I'm more comfortable between $11-13 million per season, but there's no way Werth and Scott Boras (Werth's agent) accept that type of deal.

Werth was seeing dollar signs on his own, but with baseball's version of Drew Rosenhaus in his corner, he's feeling like Babe Ruth or Mickey Mantle on the open market and wants to hear a number that's going to make his eyes pop out -- not a realistic number that he deserves.

Which, of course, almost assures he's going to end up overpaid in New York.

I think, for the most part, Philly is ready to see what Brown can do in right field and would not be at all disappointed to hear the Phils offered Werth a five-year, $65 million deal and he turned it down to play for the Yankees, Red Sox, or another team with too much money.

That money could then go to shoring up the bullpen, maybe finding a fifth starter, getting a veteran fourth outfielder, and having some extra money in their back pocket for when Jimmy Rollins becomes a free agent after the 2011 season.

But if the Phillies fold and open up the checkbook for Werth, it won't be long before they and the entire city are wondering why a very good player is getting paid like a superstar.
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Does Roy Halladay actually hurt the Phillies' offense?


The Phillies' offense continued to struggle Friday night as they were only able to muster one run off a Raul Ibanez double in the third inning. But, fortunately for them, it was Roy Halladay's turn to take the mound, so it didn't matter.

Halladay scattered eight hits, walked three, and struck out five in seven scoreless innings to earn his sixth consecutive win. And during that six-game stretch, Halladay has allowed one earned run or less in five of them.

If anyone is still not completely on board with the move to bring this guy in, it's out of nothing but denial and a world-record stubbornness.

But for as well as Halladay pitched, it still has to be troubling that the offense was only able to score one run the entire game to go along with only four hits. It's not even like they were facing a great defensive team and an All-Star pitcher. It was the Nationals and Jason Marquis.

Marquis is a good young pitcher, but there's no reason for this lineup not to have, at the very least, four runs against this guy.

It almost seems like the guys at the plate aren't playing with the same sense of urgency because they know Halladay is going to keep the score very low, meaning they don't have to do as much.

That might be true, but if they could at least get off the bus I'm sure Halladay would appreciate the effort.

The bats have been hot as of late, but this team has shown they can sink into a funk faster than any professional sports team, so they're going to have to get their hitting going soon if they'd like to avoid that -- and if Greg Gross would like to keep his job.

Every game is a playoff game for this team right now, and if this is all they can do in that type of situation then there isn't much hope for a third straight appearance in the Fall Classic.

Unless, of course, Halladay can just pitch every day.
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Brown has been impressive, but is he ready to start?


Once Shane Victorino hit the DL, everyone knew it would finally be time to call up the minor league phenom Domonic Brown. But what no one knew is just how ready this could actually was to make an impact in the majors.

Brown, who seemingly did most of his damage in the minors with his long ball, is making his presence felt for the Phillies by doing all the little things. His fielding has been very good and his knack for getting a hit in a clutch situation has been outstanding.

Whether it's a hard single or a fly ball just deep enough for the sac fly, or his beautiful throw from right field to nail Gaby Sanchez at home on Wednesday night, Brown has been very impressive during his short time with the Phillies.

In fact, if Brown can keep this up, the Phils might have to find a way to keep him on the major league roster, even once Victorino is ready to come back.

It's going to be tough with the activation of Victorino, Ryan Howard, and the recently-acquired Mike Sweeney, but it might be worth the roster shuffle to keep the kid in the bigs.

With Jayson Werth likely jumping ship in the offseason, Brown is going to see regular time in Philadelphia sooner rather than later, so getting him the experience this year could pay off in years to come.

But even if Brown is able to stay on the hot streak he's on, I still don't see him as a viable replacement for Werth next season because he's left handed. However, he would be a perfect replacement for Raul Ibanez -- in the lineup, and in the field.

If I have noticed that, and some of the fans have noticed that, then it's likely the Phillies have noticed that and could make such a transition possible this offseason.

Either way, it looks like this kid belongs as a starter in the near future. He can read pitchers, he can run the bases, he can hit in the clutch, he can make plays in the field, and everything else that a starter needs to do.

The one thing we're not sure of (yet) is whether or not he can do it consistently. But, they'll never know unless they give him a shot.
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Absent a hot streak soon, wins like this won't matter.


The Phillies won 6-0 on Friday night over the Colorado Rockies at Citizen's Bank Park. Roy Halladay got the win as he pitched eight scoreless innings, fanning nine, and watched his offense explode for five runs in the fifth inning.

And that's it. That's all I've got. Thanks for reading, and I hope you'll read again soon.

... You're still here? Oh, you wanted more? Sorry, that's truly all I've got. Here is where I would usually add some sort of analysis or my opinion on the game and the Phillies in general, but there's really nothing more left to be said.

They've got to keep this up for the rest of the season and hope for the Braves to start losing. How do they keep this up? Well, they swing the bats better. That's it. We've been over everything and every time it looks like they're getting their act together, it falls apart -- making it incredibly difficult to get excited over any of their wins.

It was great to see them put up all those runs in the fifth inning, but that was their entire offense right there. Outside of an RBI by Raul Ibanez in the eighth, the fifth inning was the only time they could score.

Jayson Werth got another RBI this month, so the world might be coming to an end. For the first night in a some time, Ryan Howard wasn't their entire offense. And, perhaps most surprisingly of all and tying into the first two feats of this game, Halladay actually got some run support.

But, there's still plenty of bad to go around.

For starters, they still left 11 runners on base. Yeah, 11 runners were left stranded out on the bags tonight. So even though they were able to score six runs, it could have, and should have, been a whole lot more.

If it was anyone but Halladay, or perhaps Cole Hamels, on the mound, the six runs likely would not have been enough.

On the bright side, they did win. Perhaps I'm being a bit pessimistic but if you take a second to look through my archives, you'll see that I supported this team up until this point. But they've successfully sucked out all my optimism and left me with thoughts like 'Cool, they won, but how will they mess it up tomorrow?'

It's disgusting and I hate them for it. But, odds are they will lay an egg tomorrow, so excuse me if I'm not setting off fireworks in the backyard. I will be sure to watch the game, however, and hope with all I'm worth that I'm wrong.
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In what was billed as a fantastic opening game for the MLB season, the defending world champion Philadelphia Phillies (Myers) fell to the division-rival Atlanta Braves (Lowe) at Citizens Bank Park, 4-1.

The night started off fine for Myers, who retired the first two batters he faced. Unfortunately, Chipper Jones would have none of that. Jones hit a 2-out single right in front of Raul Ibanez setting up the beginning of the end for Myers and the Phils.

Brian McCann slammed a change-up at the numbers deep into the second deck in right field to quiet the rowdy Philadelphia crowd and put the Braves out ahead by two early in the game.

Bad went to worse for Myers in the second inning.

Jeff Francoeur would lead off the inning and start it off with a bang. He nailed a solo shot into left field to extend the Braves' lead to 3-0.

Could it get any worse for Myers? Evidently it could.

A rookie from AA came up for his first major league at-bat, and boy did he make the best of it. Jordan Schafer had to go low for it, but he cracked a Myers pitch into deep center field for his first major league hit and home run extending the lead to 4-0.

All of this took place in a span of just five batters.

While Myers was having his first meltdown of the season, so were the Phils' batters. The Phils could only manage two hits in the first eight innings, and only four hits total.

The only run of the night for the Phils came in the bottom of the ninth when Jayson Werth brought Eric Bruntlett in on a base hit with 1 out.

After a walk for Chase Utley, Ryan Howard was up with a chance to potentially tie the game and only 1 out. Unfortunately, in the pattern of the game, Howard struck out looking for the slider. He got a fastball right down the middle from Mike Gonzalez and Howard couldn't adjust.

He should have been looking fastball knowing he would have to adjust to anything else, but he did the opposite and got himself locked up. This was the worst possible scenario for the Phils at that time.

An outside pitch chased by Raul Ibanez would eventually end the game.

All in all, this was a totally different game for these two teams. The Braves have to feel good about where they're going for the rest of the season. Their big free-agent acquisition, Derek Lowe, gave them eight shut-out innings and allowed only two hits during that time. A rookie from AA hit a home-run for his first at-bat, and the vets chipped in by going deep as well in McCann and Francoeur.

The Phils on the other hand played with zero intensity and were just plain beat down by the Braves tonight. Hopefully they can identify and fix the problems so this doesn't spell the story for the 2009 season.

The Phils (0-1, Moyer) will face off against the Braves (1-0, Jurrjens) again on 4/7 at 7:05 @ Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, PA. Hopefully the Phils can avoid a second-straight embarassing home loss.

Box Score courtesy of mlb.com.

Braves 4, Phillies 1

Atlanta AB R H RBI BB SO LOB AVG Johnson, 2B 4 0 0 0 0 1 0 .000 Escobar, SS 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 .250 Jones, C, 3B 4 1 2 0 0 2 1 .500 McCann, C 4 1 1 2 0 2 2 .250 Anderson, G, LF 4 0 1 0 0 0 1 .250 Francoeur, RF 4 1 1 1 0 1 1 .250 Kotchman, 1B 4 0 0 0 0 1 1 .000 Schafer, CF 3 1 2 1 1 1 0 .667 Lowe, P 3 0 0 0 0 2 3 .000 a-Norton, PH 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Gonzalez, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Totals 35 4 8 4 1 10 9 a-Flied out for Lowe in the 9th. BATTING 2B: Escobar (1, Myers), Jones, C (1, Myers). HR: McCann (1, 1st inning off Myers, 1 on, 2 out), Francoeur (1, 2nd inning off Myers, 0 on, 0 out), Schafer (1, 2nd inning off Myers, 0 on, 1 out). TB: Escobar 2; Jones, C 3; McCann 4; Anderson, G; Francoeur 4; Schafer 5. RBI: McCann 2 (2), Francoeur (1), Schafer (1). 2-out RBI: McCann 2. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Anderson, G; McCann; Lowe. Team LOB: 5.		Philadelphia AB R H RBI BB SO LOB AVG Rollins, SS 4 0 1 0 0 0 2 .250 Werth, RF 4 0 1 1 0 0 1 .250 Utley, 2B 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 .000 Howard, 1B 4 0 0 0 0 2 2 .000 Ibanez, LF 4 0 0 0 0 1 2 .000 Victorino, CF 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 .000 Feliz, 3B 3 0 0 0 0 2 0 .000 Ruiz, C 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 .333 Myers, P 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 a-Dobbs, PH 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Taschner, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Eyre, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Durbin, C, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Lidge, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 b-Bruntlett, PH 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1.000 Totals 31 1 4 1 1 6 8 a-Flied out for Myers in the 6th. b-Doubled for Lidge in the 9th. BATTING 2B: Ruiz (1, Lowe), Bruntlett (1, Gonzalez). TB: Rollins; Werth; Ruiz 2; Bruntlett 2. RBI: Werth (1). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Rollins; Ibanez. Team LOB: 4.
Atlanta IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA Lowe (W, 1-0) 8.0 2 0 0 0 4 0 0.00 Gonzalez 1.0 2 1 1 1 2 0 9.00		Philadelphia IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA Myers (L, 0-1) 6.0 8 4 4 1 6 3 6.00 Taschner 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0.00 Eyre 0.2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0.00 Durbin, C 0.1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0.00 Lidge 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0.00
IBB: Schafer (by Myers). Pitches-strikes: Lowe 97-66, Gonzalez 28-15, Myers 97-58, Taschner 17-9, Eyre 10-5, Durbin, C 4-3, Lidge 9-6. Groundouts-flyouts: Lowe 13-7, Gonzalez 0-1, Myers 7-5, Taschner 2-0, Eyre 0-1, Durbin, C 0-0, Lidge 1-1. Batters faced: Lowe 26, Gonzalez 6, Myers 27, Taschner 3, Eyre 2, Durbin, C 1, Lidge 3. Umpires: HP: Jeff Kellogg. 1B: Mark Wegner. 2B: Tim Timmons. 3B: Rob Drake. Weather: 60 degrees, clear. Wind: 10 mph, Out to CF. T: 2:22. Att: 44,532. April 5, 2009 Box score official statistics approved by Major League Baseball Office of the Commissioner

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