The Most Interesting Man in Baseball Calls it Quits

Photo via H. Darr Beiser (USA TODAY Sports)

On the back-end of an impressive career in the major leagues, outfielder Jayson Werth has decided to hang up the spikes.

After an injury-riddled 2017 season, the 39-year-old slugger was unable to reach an agreement with a team during Spring Training. Instead, he wound up signing a minor league contract with the Seattle Mariners on April 3, under which he had spent the last three weeks on the DL.

With the way his career ended, it's easy to forget how good he once was, but Jayson Werth had a very successful 15-year career and was one of the best hitters in the game for the better part of a decade.

The Orioles drafted Werth in 1997 as a catcher. However, he neither played for Baltimore nor behind the dish in his big league career. He was traded to the Blue Jays on December 11, 2000, and they promptly moved the slugger to the outfield in order to preserve his bat.

Werth got two "cups of coffee" in Toronto, but was traded to the Dodgers ahead of the 2004 season. He had a strong first full season, sporting a .262/.338/.486 (average/on-base percentage/slugging percentage) slash line.

Injuries hit Werth hard the following season, though. He played 102 games, but the majority of it was through a major left wrist injury, which he eventually had surgery on during the offseason. Unfortunately, it was to no avail, as the wrist continued to ail him in 2006, forcing him to miss the entire season, in what was his contract year.

Werth's career took a major turn starting in 2007. Now a member of the Phillies, he took off offensively. He hit for a then-career-high .298 average in his first season in Philadelphia, slugged a league-best 16 home runs against lefties the following year (which was capped off with a World Series), had his second straight 20–20 (home runs and stolen bases) season in 2009 — and made his lone All-Star game — and led the league in doubles (46) in the final year of his contract.

His star production — in spite of never being treated like a feature player — netted him a 7-year, $126 million contract with the middling Washington Nationals. It raised eyebrows at the time, but perhaps it shouldn't have in hindsight.

One year into his new deal, Werth looked like a bust. He struck out a career-high 160 times and slumped his way to a .232 batting average. He also missed much of 2012 with a similar wrist injury to the one he suffered seven years prior. However, he also hit .300 (on the nose) in the 81 games that he did play, and used his magical playoff touch — he had an OPS of over 1.000 in three of his first five postseasons — to get the young Nationals into October for the first time since they moved to the nation's capital in 2005. What D.C. sports fan can forget his walk-off home run against Lance Lynn in Game 4 of the NLDS?

After splitting time in center field with rookie phenom Bryce Harper the prior year, he became a full-time right-fielder in 2013, as the team added Denard Span in hopes of boosting their defense for another postseason run. Although they fell short of that goal, Werth had arguably his best offensive season, with a .318/.398/.532 slash line.

Although his power began to decline a bit, Werth nearly hit .300 in 2014, as well, helping the Nationals back to the postseason. Little did they know, they were meeting a buzz saw — the San Francisco Giants — in the NLDS.

Werth's final three seasons should be left out of the discussion. He struggled, but this was in an era when teams would consistently offer a player a large contract and hope for stellar production early, with the expectation that the player would tail off by the end.

He never even hit .250 again — although he managed to drive 21 pitches over the fence in 2016 — and was hurt as often as he was healthy. His value became his veteran leadership and ultra-confidence, two of the major reasons Washington sold out for him in the first place. However, no one could've imagined how entertaining he would become.

Sure, the team's goal was undeniably for these traits to show up on the field. That still happened. However, once he was past his athletic prime, his postgame interviews became increasingly memorable.

Fair warning, there is vulgar content in this video.

All jokes aside, Jayson Werth was a star in his own right, and he made everyone around him better at their craft.

Going forward, Jayson has every right to do whatever he wants. He could become the next Nick Swisher, or he could go into coaching — hitting coach Kevin Long isn't getting the best reviews, and Werth's swing only failed him after his health did. One thing is for sure: this isn't the last the world has seen or heard from "J-Dub."