Washington gets to say goodbye to Andray Blatche and what’s left of his sinful $35 million contract extension right around the same time it gets ready to say hello again to Jayson Werth and his seemingly misguided $126 million contract.
There is no amnesty in baseball. Werth isn’t going anywhere.
Of course, the Wizards still have to pay Blatche the $23 million they owe him, but the amnesty clause gives the franchise more financial flexibility under the NBA salary cap.
There is no salary cap in baseball, though you could make the case that the $20-plus million the Washington Nationals will have to pay Werth in each of the final four years of his agreement — between the ages of 35 and 38 — may serve as one when it comes time to pay some of the franchise’s young stars as they arrive at the free agency stage of their careers.
Werth, who has been out with a broken left wrist he suffered diving for a ball in Philadelphia on May? 6, resumed baseball activities Wednesday, with an eye on returning to the field early next month.
He has been out of sight and out of mind since being hurt. The Nationals have managed to survive well without him thanks to great pitching. But now the progress reports will come daily, and eventually he will be back in the lineup.
Will he be the player who hit .276 with 12 RBIs in the 27 games he played this season? Or will he be the one who had a terrible debut season last year, when Werth batted just .232 with 20 home runs and 58 RBIs?
His track record before he got here — 87 home runs and 251 RBIs over his three previous seasons in Philadelphia — would indicate the former is more likely.
Werth’s contract may forever be a nuisance for Nationals fans, but it might not be the insult it was last season, which is an indication that the pressures on Werth are not the same.
Since he was being paid like the sort of player who can carry a team, those were the expectations, and it appeared to weigh heavily on Werth. It wasn’t the role he had in Philadelphia.
This time he joins the Nationals as a supporting player in a lineup that has evolved with a healthy Ryan Zimmerman, the emergence of Ian Desmond and the arrival of Bryce Harper.
Werth doesn’t have to play like a $126 million player. If he is a key contributor to the Washington Nationals reaching the playoffs, Werth may earn some amnesty from the burden of that contract.
Examiner columnist Thom Loverro is the co-host of “The Sports Fix” from noon to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday on ESPN980 and espn980.com. Contact him at [email protected].
