Werth

Position: Rightfield Height, weight: 6-5, 212 Age: 30. Birthdate: May 20, 1979 Hometown: Springfield, Ill. Years pro: 7 How acquired: Signed as a free agent by the Phillies on Dec. 18, 2006, after missing entire '06 season because of wrist surgery. This year: Werth set career highs in games (159), at-bats (571), runs (98), hits (153), doubles (26), home runs (36) and RBI (99). Career: When he was drafted in the first round (22nd overall) of the 1997 draft by Baltimore, the 6-5 Werth was a catcher.

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. - This day was coming, that is for sure. From the beginning of the off-season, the Phillies had done their best to downplay Jayson Werth's value while Scott Boras had done his best to market his client's virtues in free agency. Werth was destined to be somewhere other than Philadelphia for the 2011 season. But this? Werth agreeing to a seven-year, $126 million deal with the last-place Washington Nationals? No way. Yet it's true. On Sunday, Werth agreed to an incredible deal that sent shock waves around baseball as team executives and agents arrived for the annual winter meetings that officially begin Monday.

Position: Rightfield Height, weight: 6-5, 212 Age: 30. Birthdate: May 20, 1979 Hometown: Springfield, Ill. Years pro: 7 How acquired: Signed as a free agent by the Phillies on Dec. 18, 2006, after missing entire '06 season because of wrist surgery. This year: Werth set career highs in games (159), at-bats (571), runs (98), hits (153), doubles (26), home runs (36) and RBI (99). Career: When he was drafted in the first round (22nd overall) of the 1997 draft by Baltimore, the 6-5 Werth was a catcher.

Jayson Werth dressed in all black, from his T-shirt to his shorts and the hat he wore backward on Monday. It was not an unfamiliar look for the quirky outfielder, and by no means was he sending a message that, say, this was a funeral for his Phillies career. He drove to Citizens Bank Park, just as he's done for the past four years. But this time there was no game, his only tasks were to pack up his locker, say goodbye to a few people before the off-season began, and meet with reporters to discuss his impending free agency.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Jayson Werth had a couple doubles and a walk in the World Series opener. Game 2 showed how quickly things can change in baseball. There was a long list of reasons why the Phillies lost, 4-2, to the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field last night. But the fact that Werth had a tough day at the office didn't help. Second baseman Akinori Iwamura and B.J. Upton led off the bottom of the first with singles against Brett Myers. Werth fumbled the ball and both runners advanced on the error.

The only free-agent-to-be among the Phillies' regulars wasn't fazed when Ryan Howard agreed to a five-year extension worth $125 million on Monday. That, rightfielder Jayson Werth said, is because it's too soon to assume what kind of effect it will have on his status with the Phillies. "This is all fresh," Werth said. "I haven't really given it too much thought. " Werth can be a free agent after this season and could command a considerable contract on the open market. The Phillies have never publicly ruled out re-signing Werth, but with more than $130 million committed to the 2011 payroll, it could be a challenging task.

Jayson Werth hadn't even had time to get cool yet. The Phillies' perpetually hip rightfielder, who's got bop in his strut and pop in his bat, shook himself the way a wet dog does as he entered the batter's box with two outs in last night's first inning. For Werth, trying to get into the groove he'd occupied throughout most of the 2009 season and now into October, it was a wake-up gesture. He almost certainly hadn't been expecting to bat until the second inning. But after Vicente Padilla got the first two Phillies in the first, the erratic Dodgers starter walked Chase Utley and Ryan Howard in rapid succession.

ATLANTA - Shane Victorino still remembers the day 5 years ago when the number of an old friend appeared on the screen of his cell phone. He and Jayson Werth had spent a brief stint together at Triple A in 2004 when Werth was rehabbing from an injury and Victorino was trying to work his way onto the Dodgers' radar. Two years later, though, Werth's career was on the ropes, thanks to a wrist injury that doctors could not figure out how to solve. As the two players talked that day, he confessed that he thought his career could be over.

Jayson Werth emerged as the Phillies' starting rightfielder last season and earned a two-year, $10 million contract this winter. Werth, however, hasn't played in the team's first two exhibition games, and he is not on the travel list for today's game against Cincinnati. Manager Charlie Manuel was adamant that Werth was fine. Apparently, it was just a coincidence that head athletic trainer Scott Sheridan was at Werth's side as he walked from the dugout to the clubhouse after the top of the third inning of yesterday's game against Toronto.