Phils to Trade Werth Because He is a Home Wrecker

Not really. Unless you believe twitter and internet rumors.

TheDirty reported that a ‘very reliable clubhouse source’ has said Jayson Werth is having sensual beard-sex with Chase Utley’s wife. Go ahead and get all the “Jen Utley - so easy a caveman can do it” jokes off your chest, I’ll wait.

Obviously, that report is just silly, and the chances of TheDirty being correct here are about as likely as Chris ‘Birdman’ Anderson not being high as shit right now. I'm quite sure there's no truth to a Werth/Utely affair.

But that talk of Werth being traded? Well that came from a legitimate source:

Will it lead to a trade? My guess would be probably not. Teams that would want to trade for Werth are teams who have a shot at winning the World Series this year. With his impending free agency, he's a one year rental – he’s no use to bad teams (unless they work out a long-term contract prior to completing the trade). What MLB team is going to give up a #2 or 3 starter to get Werth when they’re trying to compete for a title? Regardless of who they traded him to, the Phillies would basically be signaling one of two things:

a). It's time raise the white flag. Injuries and bad luck have proved to be too much to handle and we'll put ourselves in the best possible position entering 2011.

b). We can win without Jayson Werth. Dom Brown has been a monster all year in the minors and he can fill Werth's shoes. Between Brown and the #2 pitcher netted in the Werth trade, we can still march toward the playoffs, not going down without a fight.

Which would it be?  Nobody knows.  There isn't even a great likelyhood this happens, so we'll have to see how the Phils play on the field over the next couple weeks.  But, for the record, I don’t really want the Phillies to re-sign Jayson Werth at the end of the year, so I'm fine if they get a high-end pitcher. If you don’t agree with me, or have the mindset of everyone that calls 610 WIP, let me remind you of a few things:

1). Pitching wins championships.
2). Jayson Werth will want the same type of contract the Mets gave Jason Bay (if not more).
3). Jason Bay signed a 4 year 66M (with vesting options for a 5th bringing the contract value to 80+ million).
4). Werth will be 32 on opening day next year.

Do you really want to tie up that much money in Werth for the next 5 years? His contract could look as disastrous as Howard's in a few years. Having two contracts of that size on the books for two guys in their mid 30's could prove to be something the Phillies don't recover from should their skills deteriorate in the next few years.

Just go trade for Dan Haren and call up Dom Brown and I’ll be happy.

And as for the Werth/Jen Utley rumor? I'd only believe foul play was afoot if Jeff Carter were involved somehow.