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We Created A Monster: Jayson Werth Is An Asshole Because We Made Him That Way

Before Jayson Werth came to Philly, his career batting average was around the .240 range, he had 25 HR and 106 RBI, and just look at how innocent and kind that face on the right looks. After two years here, he was a World Series Champion with a career BA of .272, 120 HR and 406 RBI who had gotten some MVP votes, and he was looking more like James Logan. Dude was a big-time role player in a city that had (mostly) abandoned the “Werth-less” chants and embraced him as a haggard, bearded, key-player at the most successful time in Phillies history. And then, due to what Werth saw as roster mismanagement (or, at worst, betrayal), he was gone.

He signed with the Washington Nationals, and man did we have a laugh about that one. They couldn’t even sell-out their own park. Our fans outnumbered theirs at home. They were the worst team in baseball. They massively overpaid for a man who we liked, but whose numbers were inflated by his surrounding players. And so, when we laughed at him, he lashed out at us. And then, when he did poorly, we laughed again.

Meet us after the jump for our thoughts on Werth’s antics last night, and whether or not this is all Paul Rudd‘s fault.

So last night, when the first-place Nationals came in to knock off the now-out-of-it Phillies, Werth decided to have a little fun. He stole the keys to the Phanatic’s ATV. He fake-tossed a foul ball into the stands. And then, he drove in two runs in the ninth. Were the ATV and fake-toss things dick moves? Maybe. But if someone with no local history had done those same things, we would have thought nothing of it. But since it’s Werth, and since he’s going to continue playing in October and our Phillies aren’t, he is an asshole.

But is he really? Or is he just a dude who plays hard, tries to win no matter what team he’s on, and had his feelings hurt when we didn’t want him anymore. Maybe Jayson Werth was just sad that he wasn’t here anymore. When he left, maybe he was just sad that he wasn’t playing for a winner. And now that he’s on top and we’re a few games from the end of the Phillies season, we feel the same way.

Or, maybe it was part of the plan all along. Let us remind you that, back in 2009, Werth was hanging out with Paul Rudd. At the time, Rudd was filming a movie with Reese Witherspoon, Jack Nicholson, and Owen Wilson in which Wilson plays a baseball player for … THE WASHINGTON NATIONALS. Barely a year later, Werth was in D.C. So is he an asshole, an evil genius, or just a baseball player? Even after all of this, we’re still leaning towards the first one.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 27th, 2012 at 2:02 pm.

  • The Drama King

    Whatever he’s a bitch and wanted too much money it wasn’t that we didn’t want him.

  • amc312

    The guy named the Drama King might well just be trolling, but if not, I wouldn’t be able to say it any better than Michael Baumann from over at Crashburn Alley, so I’ll just quote him at length:

    “Jayson Werth. Bill wrote about this yesterday,
    and he’s absolutely right, but I think he pulled his punches some. Look
    in the mirror. Are you sad that a grown man took a better job without
    considering the feelings of strangers? Are you sad that a grown man
    might take offense when those who had once supported him pilloried him
    for taking that better job? Are you sad that a grown man, having been
    turned on and having had horrific verbal abuse hurled at him (including
    cheering when he comes to physical harm), might hold a grudge?

    I’m not sure what Phillies fans want from Werth. We started it by
    treating him horribly since he left, and he’s only responding in kind.
    And yes, I say “we” because we’re responsible for the actions of whoever
    was born in reasonable geographic proximity–that’s how sports fandom
    works. So when a bunch of morons go to Washington and cheer when Werth
    breaks his wrist because he hurt their feelings by taking a better job without considering the emotional impact on a bunch of strangers,
    we all suffer the consequences. This is not how honorable men act. This
    is not how right-thinking, rational men (forgive me my gender-normative
    language, but it’s mostly men we’re talking about) behave. A man you’ve
    never met hurt your feelings by taking a better job without consulting
    you first. And you think this gives you the right to hurl insults at
    him? Get over yourself. Grow up. There are debates with two sides, where
    I can disagree with someone, shake his or her hand, and walk away
    friends. This is not one of them. When Jayson Werth
    worked for the Phillies, he played hard and he played well. He doesn’t
    anymore, so he doesn’t owe them, or us–particularly not us–a goddamn
    thing.

    I don’t understand grown-ass men who, again, are offended by a man
    they’ve never met taking a better job without considering the feelings
    of strangers. Whatever else they may be outside of sports fandom, their
    actions in this case are offensive, deplorable and indicative of
    weakness. They disgust me.”

  • The Drama King

    Yea sorry that one was so offensive to you bud. I’m saying good for him. He’s a decent player and who wouldn’t want to take that money? That’s irrelevant though. The Phils shouldn’t have and thankfully didn’t pay for him. The fact that he takes that and and the fan ridicule, etc personally, THAT makes him a bitch.

  • amc312

    I dunno, I think the Philly fans are the ones being bitches. I was at the game on Tuesday when he was being roundly booed for no reason. And it wasn’t the good-natured kind of booing for great players who hurt your team like Pujols; the douchebags in the stands had really somehow worked themselves into a frenzy (just like the assholes who cheered when he broke his wrist). It was kind of embarrassing. I’ve been going to games my whole life, and I get that pretending to hate the other team is part of baseball. But the guys around me really hated Werth, the guy who helped us to a WS title, a pennant, and a few spare division titles, and expressed his disappointment on leaving that the Phillies didn’t offer him a contract because he wanted to stay. Booing is fun and part of baseball, but it got pretty vitriolic during this series, and that shows an utter lack of perspective from a lot of fans.

  • The Drama King

    Suppose you’ve got a point there. Good thing it isn’t all Philly fans. The boo IS our voice but unfortunately it doesn’t sound any different regardless.