Health & Fitness
Jayson Werth: What A Loss For The Phillies
The Phillies is not World Series material.
Phillies' fans: do you remember Jayson Werth and the lame story Ruben Amaro told the people of Philadelphia why Werth had to be traded when he became a free agent? Werth demanded a lot of money and a long-term contract Amaro told us.
Well, last night Werth proved that he was worth all the money because now the Washington Nationals, because of Werth, are on the threshold of winning the National League Championships and advance to the World Series, something the Phillies have been unable to do since 2008 when Werth was a member of the Philadelphia Phillies.
Ruben Amaro could not afford to resign Werth and he could not afford to keep Cliff Lee when the Phillies acquired Roy Halladay. Today, both decisions have turned out to be wrong because, the Nationals with Werth are on the verge of playing in the World Series while the Phillies are again spectators. Sometimes, you have bite the bullet and sign the player that has proved his potential and a winner.
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Since those two fateful decisions, Amaro has given large long-term contracts to 33-year-old Rollins, Cole Hamels and closer Papelbon and, yet, Werth who helped them to win the 2008 World Series became expandable just like Lee in 2009 when he was spectacular in the World Series against the New York Yankees.
And, who was supposed to replace Werth in right field? The always unpredictable and unproven Domonic Brown and a part-time player in the name of Ben Francisco.
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Today, Brown is still an enigma and Francisco is elsewhere. Even Pence, Victorino and Ibanez are gone, the Phillies do not have a bonafide right fielder. A near future World Series in Philadelphia is doubtful at best because the age of the current Phillies' inner core players is getting older.
The Phillies had their chance to win consecutive World Series championships and the blew it by making one wrong decision after another. Maybe, that was their plan all along. Winning teams must make the right choices. From where I am sitting, the Phillies constantly misinterpret talent and under-estimate a players' value to the organization.
Maybe, Amaro should think long and hard this offseason before he makes another trade because so far, everything he has done, has backfired.
