Jayson Werth Appreciation Thread

[Slateman]

Werth got the cortisone shot. Prepare for a hot streak

[Natsinpwc]

That was to help his driving.

[RobDibblesGhost]

He was going 105??   I'm not familiar with that area, is there any stretch of road where going 105 MPH wouldn't be considered absolutely insane???

Apparently it was on the Beltway near Georgetown Pike.

[Mattionals]

Apparently it was on the Beltway near Georgetown Pike.

Had to be coming out of the EZPass express lanes...

[Mathguy]

He would do more good with community service

he still deserves a few days in jail, but it's not as dangerous as people are making it sound

[Galah]

Had to be coming out of the EZPass express lanes...

It was at 0800 on a Sunday morning, yep, this could so easily happen to me.
Top down on the convertible, tunes cranked up, sunny summer day and merging onto a nearly empty highway. After beating up on the Cubs 13-0 the night before....yep, not hard to imagine at all.

[HalfSmokes]

He would do more good with community service

nothing like some famous person justice

[Slateman]

Community Service = lots of dingers, right?

[Mathguy]

No - torment him by making him talk to kids, community groups, or do manual labor with the public works dept after the season

Community Service = lots of dingers, right?

[vicki4471]

sentence him to 6 months without facial hair.

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

The Eighth Amendment prohibits that

sentence him to 6 months without facial hair.

[Smithian]

Werth got the cortisone shot. Prepare for a hot streak

erth + Cortisone = 

[Slateman]

No - torment him by making him talk to kids, community groups, or do manual labor with the public works dept after the season

But we need dingers?

[sportsfan882]

Back in the starting lineup

[vernon337]

Fun fact: The only two starters in the Nats lineup with OPS's higher than .800 are the two old guys.

Another fun fact: The only starter with a slugging percentage under .400 is Bryce Harper.

[imref]

Bumping this thread from page 4:

http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/51375/remember-the-bad-jayson-werth-contract

Despite playing through a shoulder issue, he's been very good again in 2014, hitting .283/.381/.446, ranking fifth in the NL in OBP and 10th in wOBA -- ahead of, among others, Buster Posey and Hunter Pence, two players mentioned as MVP candidates, as well as teammate Anthony Rendon, also mentioned as a down-the-ballot kind of guy. The Nationals are going to win their second NL East title in three years, and Werth has been a key reason why.

So how does that contract look now?

Let's value each win above replacement at $6.5 million -- that's about the going rate on the free-agent market. Maybe it was a little lower in December 2010 and a little higher now (or trending higher), but $6.5 million serves as a rough proxy. At $126 million, Werth would have to earn about 19.3 WAR to justify the value of the contract.

Right now, he's at 9.9 WAR in his three-plus seasons, via Baseball-Reference.com (3.0 in 2014), and 11.2 via FanGraphs (3.7 in 2014). In other words, he has a chance to come close to reaching the 19.3 total WAR over the life of the contract. That doesn't necessarily mean it was a sweetheart of a deal for the Nationals. Back in March, when Miguel Cabrera signed his mega-extension, Buster Olney tweeted that he hadn't heard such disgust from executives since the Werth contract. The implication being that the Nationals went much, much higher for Werth than any other team had been willing to go.

So they did overpay at the time, which can't be ignored. But it's also not looking like a disaster of a contract, either. It shouldn’t be a big surprise that Werth has aged well; he's a good athlete, a minor league catcher converted to the outfield due to his speed. His walk rates have always been excellent, and that's a skill that generally holds up well. (Not always: See Albert Pujols.) Werth has actually cut down on his strikeout rate the past three seasons, which has helped him maintain his good batting averages.

Compare Werth to Josh Hamilton. Maybe Hamilton had the higher peak value, but his biggest weakness -- strike zone control -- is Werth's strength. Hamilton hasn't been the same player at ages 32 and 33 with the Angels that he was earlier with the Rangers. Or compare Werth to the more one-dimensional Prince Fielder, whose value is all wrapped up in his bat (same with Cabrera). Werth is still a plus on the bases, and while his defensive metrics aren't what they were during his best years with the Phillies, he's not a big liability in right field.

Werth's contract might have been a joke in December 2010. But the Nationals may yet get the last laugh.

[Optics]

It looked terrible because he was terrible his first year. He doesn't have to be an MVP, as long as he's a good solid ball player he'll be worth the $. In other words, he just can't be like an Albert Belle complete anchor.

I could see him being one of those guys that gets better with age. He's not super reliant on athleticism, he's just a crafty S.O.B. who knows how to play the game.

[stealyerbase]

Loved Werth's response to HBP from Colon, "We don't have time for that bullsh!t."

[Baseball is Life]

It looked terrible because he was terrible his first year. He doesn't have to be an MVP, as long as he's a good solid ball player he'll be worth the $. In other words, he just can't be like an Albert Belle complete anchor.

I could see him being one of those guys that gets better with age. He's not super reliant on athleticism, he's just a crafty S.O.B. who knows how to play the game.

And while I'm not a big fan of his personality, he brings an intensity and professionalism to the clubhouse. He's been known to dog teammates who don't play or practice the right way.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

And while I'm not a big fan of his personality, he brings an intensity and professionalism to the clubhouse. He's been known to dog teammates who don't play or practice the right way.

so you are saying he knows the unwritten rules?

[Baseball is Life]

so you are saying he knows the unwritten rules?

Oh, yes he does. He grew up in a baseball family. Stepfather and grandfather were mlb players so he's kind of old school. 

[DPMOmaha]

It looked terrible because he was terrible his first year. He doesn't have to be an MVP, as long as he's a good solid ball player he'll be worth the $. In other words, he just can't be like an Albert Belle complete anchor.

I could see him being one of those guys that gets better with age. He's not super reliant on athleticism, he's just a crafty S.O.B. who knows how to play the game.

It was widely regarded as a huge over pay before he ever took the field for the Nats. His first season just compounded it.

[Mathguy]

True - first impressions go along way.  And he wasn't viewed as having Barry Bonds stature.  But the Nats front office knew something we fans didn't.

It was widely regarded as a huge over pay before he ever took the field for the Nats. His first season just compounded it.

[3bside]

Stats like WAR don't measure the leadership, intensity and knowledge of the game that Werth brings every day.  Rizzo knew he was overpaying, but he knew what he was getting in intangibles.  Carl Crawford got a bigger contract that year based upon his stats, and it's fair to say that Werth has had a much bigger impact on the Nats than Crawford had on either the Red Sox or Dodgers.

[Natsinpwc]

Oh, yes he does. He grew up in a baseball family. Stepfather and grandfather were mlb players so he's kind of old school.

One of the Schofield's is his uncle?  People I know who have met him say he is obnoxious off the field but who really cares if he produces.
I think all the time it took for him to make it as an everyday player makes him conduct himself the way he does on the field.