Big news here as the baseball world continues its migration to Orlando, Florida for the Winter Meetings.
According to MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki, free agent outfielder Jayson Werth is close to agreeing to a contract with the Nationals.
Zolecki has not heard any particulars on the terms of the deal, but it’s sure to be a big one. Werth is represented by super agent Scott Boras, who usually recommends that his top-tier clients wait until the later part of the offseason to sign. Unless, of course, they’re overwhelmed by big time money.
Werth batted .296/.388/.532 with 27 homers and 85 RBI over 156 games for the Phillies in 2010 and should do well for several years in D.C. The Nats probably overpaid for him, disappointed by Adam Dunn’s departure and inspired by Ryan Zimmerman’s recent comments about the direction of the organization, but a deal with Werth represents a small coup for the Washington front office. They’ve courted many top free agents since moving to the nation’s capital and been spurned by pretty much all of them.
Werth wearing the Curly W, that’s cute.
UPDATE: Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com says the deal is done.
UPDATE II: Jon Heyman of SI.com reports that Werth will get a seven-year deal. Yikes.
UPDATE III: According to Rosenthal, the seven-year contract will be worth $126 million. That’s an unbelievable amount of money -- more than the Cardinals paid a younger Matt Holliday last winter.