Jayson Werth signs w/ Nationals for 7y/$126m

[Evolution33]

Yep. Pretty much all of those teams continued to suck after the signings... and for the most part, the teams actually got worse after the signing.

It is bleacher report were you expecting something good? I think Randy Johnson, Vlad Guerrero, Barry Bonds, Magglio Ordenez are all better than most of the players they named. If you want to see something truly bad look at some of the articles the guy that covers the Nationals writes. He is like a 320 but stoned and half knowing what stats are. But in one article he was just making up stats on what Nationals players would put up if on a good team. We was litterally just making crap up. 

[JCA-CrystalCity]

So since the Nationals aren't suppossed to make signings like this and I was watching baseball seasons 2001 and Randy Johnson's press confrence before that season sounded exactly like Werth's it made me think what teams signed players before they were suppossed to. I can only think of three off the top of my head.

1992 72-90 Giants sign Barry Bonds
1998 65-97 Diamondbacks Sign Randy Johnson
2003 77-85 Angels sign Valdimir Guerrero
2004 72-90 Tigers sign Magglio Ordonez
2010 69-93 Nationals sign Jayson Werth

I am sure there are a lot of other teams that just got fed up with the so called cycle they are supposed to wait through and build from within. So can anyone else think of some signings by bad teams that they made before they got good with their own players first?

The Angels won the World Series in 2002, then had a down year when a few guys were injured.  Vladi was not a too early signing.

[Tyler Durden]

I don't understand the 'too early' argument for Werth.  It's never 'too early' to add talented guys like Werth.  If anything, it's 'too late.'  I've said it on this board before, but I don't want to be the Royals - sucking for 20 years before we open our 'window of contention' or whatever nonsense term they're using.

As far as overpayment, there was no other way for us to get a guy like Werth.  I suppose you could come up with an argument against the player we signed, that we should have signed someone else, but it looks like Werth is the guy he wanted.

The real argument against signing Werth would be if they chose to sign Werth instead of keeping Dunn/Willingham.  I guess it remains to be seen if this is the case or not.  I'm optimistic they'll bring in a solid 1B and shore up the SP situation, but until they actually go out and do it, the argument that the Lerners are cheap will be there.

[Evolution33]

The Angels won the World Series in 2002, then had a down year when a few guys were injured.  Vladi was not a too early signing.

For some reason I knew that the won the World Series in 2002, but for some reason I thought Vlad was on the team by then. I do not know why I isolated out the two instances like that.

And to Edward Norton's point about what I meant by too early was more patern breaking. The way losing teams are meant to get better is to suck and build through the farm system and then once the drafted players start winning at the major league level they then need to go out and buy talent. The Nationals are obviously not trying to win in the year 2011 as if they were Dunn and Willingham would still be Nationals. In my opinion the Werth signing is doubling down on Bryce Harper.

[Lintyfresh85]

Not a pretty picture on the Werth signing.

http://www.thenatsblog.com/2010-articles/january/nats-have-been-the-second-biggest-spenders-this-winter-was-it-worth-it.html

While the Nationals added Jayson Werth (5.0 WAR), Ankiel (0.7 WAR) and Wang (DNP), they also lost Josh Willingham (2.7 WAR) and Adam Dunn (3.9 WAR), equalling a net loss for the winter of 2010. Not the most encouraging sign for a team that can't afford to show anything but progress on the field in 2011.

[hammondsnats]

Not a pretty picture on the Werth signing.

http://www.thenatsblog.com/2010-articles/january/nats-have-been-the-second-biggest-spenders-this-winter-was-it-worth-it.html

but all is well in natstown!!!

[TheCerebral1]

Been a while since I posted.  Loved this because it didn't cost a first round pick.  It upgades a need in the outfield and gives a right handed bat.  Due to age, the money is ridiculous.  But, the Nationals had to change the culture.  Signing Brandon Webb and Adam LaRoche would be nice additionals.
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[Terpfan76]

This just leads me to believe that we'll see Harper much in same fashion as we saw Strasburg last year. He'll start the year in A and more than likely hit AA in about 2 months. If he's tearing it up, another month in AAA and we'll probably see Harper in D.C. in late July or early August. I'm not for a moment suggesting that this is the correct path for the team to follow, but I seriously doubt the team will keep him in minors very long if he's crushing the ball and playing anywhere close to decent outfield defense.