Sam Donnellon: Werth has bitter beginning with Nationals in wake of Lee signings

WASHINGTON - "They got their boy back, I guess," Jayson Werth said a little after 1 p.m. yesterday, finally exhibiting the bitterness that Cliff Lee would reference in a similar press conference a few hours later, as he accepted the kind of contract the Phillies were unwilling to offer their departed rightfielder.

"When he found out I was coming here, he wasn't the happiest person in the world," Lee said a few hours after the Nationals introduced Werth in a sponsored and orchestrated affair that took the "press" out of press conference.

Fondues, upscale food, and Lexus-sponsored goody bags were handed to well-dressed men and women as they entered a downstairs restaurant at Nationals Park. Aired live on their flagship station and the MLB network, the event began and ended inside of a tightly planned 23-minute package, as the well-fed and well-dressed watched and listened to the proceedings through a wall of glass.

Werth was accompanied by the notorious Scott Boras, forever known in Philly for his obstinacy in the Phillies' contentious and fruitless negotiations with J.D. Drew. Asked later about the speed in which Werth's 7-year, $126 million deal was struck, Boras would quip, "I'm just the kind of guy who gets things done out of the blocks," but the truth is the Nationals offered Werth almost twice as much money and years as the next highest bidder.

The Phillies reportedly offered a 4-year, $66 million deal - or just over half of what Lee will receive in both years and compensation. But that was back in the day, 2 weeks ago, when Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. spoke of hard choices and tough decisions as it pertained to increasing payroll, when everyone, including him, thought Lee was choosing between two suitors, not three.

"I don't say this to slight our former rightfielder," Amaro began at one point yesterday. "But I think, to a man, we felt like this would have much more of an impact on our club moving forward because, frankly, I believe in pitching and defense winning championships. We've seen it over the last several years. That's what wins World Series."

Let the record show that the Phillies won the only world championship of their percolating dynasty with a postseason rotation of Cole Hamels, Brett Myers, Jamie Moyer, and Joe Blanton. That they lost to the Yankees in a six-game slugfest of a World Series, and that their lineup struggled to produce runs last season long before they ran into San Francisco's staff.