It is hard to believe that more than 15 years have passed since the Philadelphia Phillies won the 2008 World Series.
Each player on that roster has retired — Cole Hamels being the last remaining member — and moved on. Some are still involved in baseball and others have explored new interests outside of the game.
A number of players, however, made an impact that year. The big names like Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins and Hamels may have had the most successful careers and became the faces of the franchise over those years, but other players were equally important.
One of them was Jayson Werth. Although low-key, his signing 18 years ago, on Dec. 19, 2006, may have been one of the most important that then-general manager Pat Gillick made prior to the start of the 2007-2011 glory days.
Phillies History: Under-the-radar 2006 signing turned into key piece of World Series team
Werth was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in the first round of the 1997 Draft. In 2000 he was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays and played just a handful of games there in 2002 and 2003 before being moved to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Not able to find much success on the West Coast, the Dodgers non-tendered Werth after the 2006 season. Gillick, who was the general manager in Toronto during Werth's time there, pounced on the opportunity to bring the oft-injured outfielder to his new digs in Philadelphia on a one-year, $850K deal.
That is when the former first-round pick's fortunes changed. From 2007-2010, Werth was an everyday player who could make an impact on a game in more ways than one. The Phillies gave him $1.7 million in 2008 and then signed him to a two-year, $10 million extension for the 2009-2010 seasons.
During that span, Werth hit 95 regular-season home runs, drove in 300 runs and crossed the plate 320 times. He did all this while slashing .282/.380/.506 with a .885 total OPS in red pinstripes.
Werth was also the previous postseason home run leader for the Phillies with 11 until Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber surpassed him during the franchise's most recent set of playoff runs. Most impressively, the 2008 Phillies right fielder absolutely dominated in the World Series.
In those five magical games, Werth slashed .444/.583/.778 with an OPS of 1.361. He had 14 total bases in 24 plate appearances with one home run and three doubles. He also swiped three bases as the Phillies defeated the Tampa Bay Rays four games to one.
Without the production of their 2006 signing, who knows how the season would have ended. Of course, you could say that about almost every player on that roster. Werth ended up being an integral part, not just to the 2008 club, but also the 2009 and 2010 Phillies teams, due to his offense and solid defense in the outfield.
Werth's departure from Philadelphia left a sour taste in some fans' mouths as he took a much more lucrative deal to sign with the division rival Washington Nationals. Any one of us likely would have done the same given the difference in money offered by the two clubs.
Regardless, Werth's time in Philadelphia was impactful. As a player who didn't have many chances left, he capitalized on his new opportunity and made the most of it. He became a key figure on a stretch of teams that gave Phillies fans excitement night in and night out. It just goes to show that buying the shiniest new toy isn't the only way to improve a club's roster.