Blog of Brotherly Love

Jayson Werth is ninth on the all-time postseason home run leaders list, a list he doesn’t seem to have much interest in climbing. Only Babe Ruth has made that list with fewer playoff plate appearances, but now it seems David Justice has a better chance of coming out of retirement and climbing that list with the Braves than Werth does ascending it with the Nats. Etching his name all over baseball-reference.com seems less important to Werth than having it printed on some fat checks. It’s understandable, especially for a guy who, before landing with the Phillies, had his career threatened by injuries.

So what will the outfielder’s $126 million defection to the Nationals mean to the Phillies? The facelift is official now. The Phillies outfield will undoubtedly have a new look. I’m bummed about it. I was holding out hope for the slim chance of keeping him in the lineup this year. Now that he’s gone, our team is less powerful, slower, worse defensively, not as clutch, less balanced in terms of hitting from both sides of the plate, and certainly more lacking in beard prowess.

I guess Werth is sick of getting free hats and cigars at the end of every season

His emergence coincided with the resurrection of the franchise, in a similar fashion to Donovan McNabb’s impact on the Eagles when he arrived. Werth’s stay here was much less controversial and not so much a solo act as McNabb’s, but I think we should be legitimately worried that he is the first of the core members to say adios to the franchise. Will his departure be the tipping point that starts the team’s decline?

Werth's departure leaves the Phillies lineup beardless....and without right-handed power. Polanco's ginormous head is now the team's most prominent feature.

For anyone who talks Phillies with me regularly, or has read this blog, namely this piece, knows that I would rather have seen J-Roll be the first to move on. But Rollins remains, on the heels of two poor seasons in a row and one poor, aging hamstring. J-Roll and the lineup that he will likely continue to lead off, had a down year. The pitching is what got the team as far as it got, and now we are left hoping that Rollins, Victorino, Howard and Utley all have bounce-back years. Anyone else uncomfortable with that and uncomfortable with losing the only player that lived up to expectation last year offensively, leading the league in doubles, scoring 100+ runs and contributing 27 HRs?

Like Donovan McNabb, Werth will now suit up for a division opponent. I’m careful to use the word opponent instead of rival here, because we all know the Nationals only true rival is the record book of futility. As becomes the question with any popular Philadelphia athlete who leaves town, how will fans receive him upon return?

I happened to be eating breakfast at Honey’s in Northern Liberties, the morning after the Phillies ended the city’s 25-year championship drought, when J-Werth strolled in with his family. Man, this guy was instrumental to winning the World Series, and he’s got great taste in brunch spots, I thought. With no hesitation, everyone in the restaurant rose to their feet and applauded him.

He deserves the same reaction when he takes right field next year at CBP on May 3. When he gets that recognition as a visiting player, one has to think it won’t be long before he misses that kind of fan support in the lonely pastures of the Nationals Park outfield. And anyone who’s been to Honey’s knows he’s damn well going to miss that too.