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Should the Phillies pursue Jayson Werth in free agency this winter?

By John Town

CINCINNATI - OCTOBER 10: Jayson Werth #28 of the Philadelphia Phillies shakes champagne out of his hair in the clubhouse after a sweep the Cincinnati Reds during Game 3 of the NLDS at Great American Ball Park on October 10, 2010 in Cincinnati, Ohio.The Phillies defeated the Reds 2-0. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
CINCINNATI - OCTOBER 10: Jayson Werth #28 of the Philadelphia Phillies shakes champagne out of his hair in the clubhouse after a sweep the Cincinnati Reds during Game 3 of the NLDS at Great American Ball Park on October 10, 2010 in Cincinnati, Ohio.The Phillies defeated the Reds 2-0. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
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Jayson Werth’s massive contract with the Nationals is about to expire. Should the Phillies be interested in their former outfielder?

It seems like so long ago when Jayson Werth left the Phillies, heading three hours south down I-95 to join the Nationals with a seven-year, $126 million dollar contract. Now that contract is nearly up as the 38-year-old Werth will play his final games in Washington under contract in the playoffs next month.

Werth will be back on the free-agent market this winter. He will likely be looking to continue his major-league career unless Washington can somehow win the World Series, giving him the ultimate high note to retire on. Could Werth return to Philadelphia to finish out his career on one last contact? Or more importantly, is he worth pursuing for the Phillies.

It sholud be noted that the Werth who played in Philadelphia from 2007 to 2010 is far from the player he is now. In those four seasons, Werth racked up 15.7 Baseball Reference wins above replacement, hitting 95 home runs, driving in 300 runs, and had a 130 OPS+.

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Werth had several strong seasons after joining the Nationals, but he has fallen off in recent years. From 2015 to now, Werth has a .724 OPS (91 OPS+), .233 batting average, and has been worth 1.6 wins below replacement.

From everything I have just said, you might be wondering why I’m even writing this article in the first place. If Werth has been so bad the last few years, why bring him to Philadelphia?

I recognize that Werth is by no means a starting-caliber outfielder, but he could be a worthwhile acquisition as Philadelphia’s fourth outfielder next season.

The starting outfield is essentially set with Aaron Altherr, Odubel Herrera, and Nick Williams with the team finally committing to Rhys Hoskins as the full-time first baseman. However, behind those three the depth starts getting thin. Right now, the team’s fourth outfielder is Hyun-Soo Kim with Cameron Perkins also in the mix every once in a while. Perkins has been abysmal as a major-leaguer so far and Kim has had worse numbers than Werth this season.

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There are no great options for a fourth outfielder in the minors either as Dylan Cozens really struggled in Triple-A this year and Roman Quinn continues to find different ways to get hurt every year. Andrew Pullin started off the year well in Double-A but his performance at the plate dipped once he left the offensive haven of Reading.

Signing Werth to be the Phillies’ fourth outfielder doesn’t block anyone nor does it significantly downgrade. He doesn’t have to play center field as Altherr and Williams both can play in center if Herrera gets injured or benched again. Werth can play left or right field, although how well he will is up in the air.

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Granted, everything depends on what kind of contract Werth would end up signing. He certainly isn’t going to get anything near his last contract, but if the two sides can agree on a reasonably-priced, short-term deal bringing Werth back to Philadelphia could make some sense.

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