"Werth's way out of sync," Charlie Manuel said toward the end of spring training. "He's got to get it right pretty soon."
Of course, the talk began in early March that his free agency in the fall would see him pursuing a Jason Bay contract - long and heavy. The Mets gave Bay 4 years for $66 million with a $17 million 2014 vesting option. Bay gave them six homers and 47 RBI before an injury ended his season, but that's another story.
Whatever, when the bell rang, the Phils' angular 6-5 powerhouse had banished all his batting demons. The plate discipline that permits him to see more pitches per AB than any other big-league player was back. He fired 22 doubles and nine homers in April and May, batting .295. His OPS was .950.
Then his season slid into a strange valley where he continued to hit for good average - .286 in June, .305 in July - but stopped hitting with runners in scoring position. In July and August, Werth drove in just 16 runs, hit only five homers and had reverted to his March genuflections. It should be pointed out that the Phillies' injury crisis peaked during those months. The injuries to Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard left Werth an island in the stream. He did not see a lot of fastballs middle-in.
The April version of Werth showed up Sept. 1 and was an even more potent version.
As the Walloping Wolfman dismantled the Nationals in Monday night's clincher, turning Roy Halladay's 21st victory into a laugher, I asked myself once again: "Can the Phillies really afford to let this integral part of their run, their only certified righthanded slugger, walk away hand-in-hand with uberagent Scott Boras?"
