Phillies

Jayson Werth Wore an Awesome Shirt During Batting Practice Last Night

By Kyle Scott

Published: May 29th, 2014 · 11:48 AM EDT

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I miss Jayson Werth.

There, that was hard to say. Don’t get me wrong, I still think he’s a vindictive d-bag who said all the wrong things upon his departure from Philly. But. But the Phillies may have made a mistake. Sure, paying Werth – instead of, say, Cliff Lee – over $100 million may have done little to reverse the team’s fortunes the last few years, but Werth, now 35, has proven that he was right when he said that he still had some of his best years ahead of him. As examples, his .931 OPS last year would’ve been by far the best on the Phillies, and his .827 OPS in 2012 would’ve been second to only Carlos Ruiz and his Adderall. Would keeping Werth around have made a difference for the Phillies, especially if it meant no Cliff Lee? Probably not. But it’s clear that Werth, at $126 million over seven years, would’ve been far more valuable than Ryan Howard, at $125 million over five years.

I mean, Jayson Werth wins batting practice forever http://t.co/PAIFzCqW9v pic.twitter.com/kcviAXt0S2

— Dan Steinberg (@dcsportsbog) May 29, 2014

And most importantly, every once in a while Werth does something – like wearing a Spring Break 2013 cutoff t-shirt during batting practice – that is truly funny and entertaining, and provides a necessary sideshow to the loooooong baseball season.