One of the biggest questions about the Phillies offseason is whether or not they’ll find a way to keep outfielder Jayson Werth. Most would guess that the Phillies would make him a reasonable offer, but not maximum market value. If he wants to stay with a winner for less, then fine. If he wants to make the cash grab, it will have to be elsewhere.
But a team source tells Jayson Stark of ESPN that the Phillies have “no chance” of keeping the rightfielder. Here is the full quote:
“No chance. None. Zero.”
And apparently, this doesn’t have much to do with money. It seems it’s the Phillies not wanting to go beyond three or four years in contract length. Werth will be 32-years old in May, and I can’t say I blame the Phillies for not wanting to commit beyond four years. Even four scares me a bit.
Right now, Dom Brown doesn’t seem to be ready for Major League pitching. But, he better get ready because it looks like he’s the plan for 2011 in right field. Stark does add that the Phils could bring in Jeff Francoeur as a right-handed bat and maybe a platoon.
You knew that this would be the case. This is his last big contract, so he is going to be looking for 5-6 years at close to Matt Holliday money. The Phils aren’t willing to pay him that much money when he is 37-38 years old. Someone like the Red Sox will.
No surprise by most observors, When Werth turned down a deal earlier this year, he was good as gone. It’s a shame that the Phils signed a 3 year deal to a then 36 year old R Ibanez 2 years ago
and a 3 Year Deal last year to a then 35 year old Placideo Polanco, I gues Reuben Amaro doesn’t think Caucasions age as well as Latino players, but that’s another story for another time…
2 Moves that I can see and hope the Phillies are pursuing..
Sign Free-Agent Jeff Francouer as a Platoon/4th OF and a Right Handed Bat.
Sign Free-Agent Billy Hall as a Platoon/4th OF and another Right HAnded Bat.
2 words
very sad
What free-agenst do you like out there PW for the PHils to go after..
They need 1 or 2 Right-Handed Batters who play outfield and probably 2 Left-Handed Relief Pitchers
If they expect a platoon of Francisco & Brown to duplicate Werth’s #’s and production, they are fooling themselves..
2 more words
over rated
he will be overpaid and come nowhere near the expectations ala Jason Bay
Ibanez is specifically the reason why they won’t sign Werth. His production is zero at his advanced age. He makes 12-13 mil. Polanco had a pretty solid season for 5 mil. Werth will get a contract offer for more than that. So you want the Phillies to sign him to a 5-6 year deal for a short term gain? And don’t tell me it is not our money considering the fact that the GD ticket prices go up every season.
He had 27 HRs and 85 RBIs… he is not exactly Manny Ramirez in his prime. I like him as much as the next Phillies fan, but let’s not start saying that you can’t replace his production.
To bugsy
Double check your numbers plaease, Polanco signed a 3 year-$34-$36 Million deal last year and makes about $12 Million Per Season… (he’s 36 years old and not a power guy)
There will probably be only 1 Position Player who gets a longer term contract than 4 years this off-season and that is Carl Crawford who is a little younger than Werth.. The rest of this Free-Agency group will only be offered are 2-3 year deals for the most cases…
There will not be a whole lot of $$$ being thrown around this year.. Werth goes to the Red Sox,
Chicago White Sox or the Detroit Tigers would be my guess
To Paulman: I guess your sources failed you.
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20091202&content_id=7746028&vkey=news_phi&fext=.jsp&c_id=phi
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/baseball/mlb/12/03/phillies.polanco/index.html
3 Years for 18 mil starting with $5 this year.
And I disagree with you completely on the years. All those teams that you mentioned have the means to offer him 4-5 years. They all need OF help and they will probably go that far to get it. I would throw in the Dodgers, Braves and Angels (if they don’t get Crawford)
My bad Bugsy,
I must have confused the Ibanez #’s with the Polanco Deal..
I will suspend myself (with full pay and benefits of course) until the GM’s Mettings next month.
Thank you
Dodgers have no $$$ (until that Divorce deal with the ownsership is settled)
Braves have young OF’s and typically only spend $$$ on Pitching
Angels could be an option who have the resources and the need..
Sure gonna miss the right handed bat and arm. You might as well give him a 5 year deal. I mean I think you’ll still get great production of our him for at least 3-4 of the years. If they can sign Ibanez, palanco and old Jamie moyer and just throw away cash, why not do it for an important part of your club? They can afford it if they want to.
Even besides this, I have a feeling that this team will not be seeing anymore World Series in the near future. I think other teams are getting better in the NL and if we aren’t willing to spend the money, we will still be competitive but not dominant. And I am saying this because how long do you think it is before Utley, Rollins and Howard are permanently on the downside? I mean after this year, a lot of people already asked that question. If those 3 don’t get back to form and you don’t pay money to get and keep important parts then you aren’t going to win. I love they did with Halladay and Oswalt but as we saw, when you are in the playoffs, you need bats as well. How many games did Hamels pitch a great game but lost because we couldn’t score more than 1 run. You need your bats in place. Pitching is the most important but you need hitters. Now we are going to have no real right handed power hitter.