Nationals should have kept Adam Dunn
This Werth deal makes very little sense, when you take projections into account
The Washington Nationals caused a lot of hearts to jump at the winter meetings, finalizing a seven-year, $126 million with Phillies rightfielder Jayson Werth.
This represents quite a shift for a franchise that wouldn't match a four-year, $56 million contract for Chicago-bound Adam Dunn. The titanic nature of this contract becomes apparent when you compare Werth's performance in recent years to Dunn.
Let's try to be as generous as possible to Werth and look at his last three seasons; those are the only three times in his career that he's received more than 400 plate appearances. From 2008-2010, Werth hit .279/.376/.513 with 87 HR, 251 RBI, and an OPS+ of .132. Over the same period of time, Dunn hit .255/.380/.526, with 116 HR, 308 RBI, and OPS+ of .138.
So what are the Nationals getting in return for the extra three years and $70 million that they're not getting for Dunn?
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Dan Szymborski
ESPN Insider- Creator of ZiPS projection system
- Founder of Baseball Think Factory
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Buyer's Guide
Nov. 7: Keith Law's top 50 free agent rankingsNov. 8: Buyers Guide: Starting Pitchers
• Projecting the Starters
Nov. 9: Buyers Guide: Relief Pitchers
• Projecting the Relievers
Nov. 10: Buyers Guide: Catchers
• Projecting the Catchers
Nov. 11: Buyers Guide: First basemen/DH
• Projecting the first basemen
Nov. 12: Buyers Guide: Middle infielders
• Projecting middle infielders
Nov. 15: Buyers Guide: Third basemen
• Projecting the third basemen
Nov. 16: Buyers Guide: Outfielders
• Projecting the outfielders
Features
Nov. 5: BP: Five biggest holesNov. 5: Olney: Quieting the rumor mill
Nov. 5: BIS: The next defensive makeover
Nov. 6: BP: Five top moves
Nov. 10: Olney: Top teams chasing Carl Crawford
Nov. 11: Keating: Teams that shouldn't make a move
Nov. 13: BIS: Finding hidden value free agents
Nov. 15: BP: Shopping in the $0.99 bin
History
• Law: 2009 top 50 rankings• Law: 2008 top 50 rankings
• Law: 2007 top 50 rankings
• Law: 2006 top 40 rankings
- Olney: Miggy eyes another Triple Crown
- Cameron: Top early-season turnarounds
- Petriello: Quiet winter doesn't slow Texas
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