In five years as a Cub, Soriano’s OPS has been .826. With age, injuries have cost him about 30 games a season, but he’s still hit 120 homers. He remains fast, but doesn’t steal anymore — 53 stolen bases as a Cub after 41 in one season as a Nat. When you sign him at 30, what do you expect? That he’ll always be healthy, never slow down?
But Chicago fans have been miserable with him because they want a $136-million toy that does not exist, rather than an actual player named Soriano.
The Cubs paid a career-year price for Soriano after he had 46 homers, a best-ever .911 OPS and 22 outfield assists as a Nat. Washington wouldn’t touch the $75 million that was considered market price in summer of 2006. Nobody imagined $136 million for Soriano any more than $126 million seemed sane for Werth. But that’s what the Cubs paid him.
Last winter, the Nats became the Cubs: They wanted to make a splash, prove to future free agents and their fans that they would compete. They “had to have” Werth and thus overbid, just as the Cubs had to have Soriano and were willing to overpay.
Like the Cubs, the Nats paid for a player that did not exist — or existed for only one season: In 2010, Werth’s slash line was .296/.388/.532.
In reality, Werth, in his 15th year as a pro, is a .266/.362/.470 hitter. That’s him. He strikes out, draws walks, fights off tons of pitches and hits it two miles to all fields when he runs into one. Werth also has 20-steal speed and is a better-than-average right fielder. And he had a great pedigree: a stunning .989 OPS in 10 postseason series as well as a grandfather and uncle who were big-leaguers.
Pressure? Werth had eaten it up, whether from tough Philly fans, the October spotlight or grabbing a World Series ring. In theory, he brought presence beyond his stats, just as Soriano was 40-40 charismatic back then.
Werth’s last month has been wrenching. On June 4, he had shaken off a slump to reach .254/.350/.434 — one hot series from his career norm. But with Ryan Zimmerman out, couldn’t he do more, please?
So, he tried. He even moved to leadoff, where he floundered completely and fell into a huge slump. Since then, he has hit .155.
Other offseason acquisitions in Boston, Chicago and Atlanta are having even worse seasons: $143 million Carl Crawford (.243), $54 million Adam Dunn (.167) and $60 million Dan Uggla (.178). All hear boos. But Werth, falling to .221, has hit the pits along with them.
Maybe he hit bottom Tuesday: 0 for 4, two strikeouts and seven stranded runners. I went out to the right field bleachers to see how he and the fans were coping. Not well.
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