At the end of 2010, Jayson Werth signed a 7 year $126 million contract with the Washington Nationals. At the time it was the 14th richest contract in baseball history. When a player signs a contract like this, he starts off under a microscope with high fan expectations. But that did not work out well for Werth at first. In 2011 he hit only .232. His home runs dropped to 20 with 58 RBIs.

In his second season of the contract, Werth broke his wrist causing him to miss three months. In his shortened season, he batted .300 but only hit five home runs. 2013 and 2014 were good years for Werth. He batted .318 and .292 with 25 and 16 Home Runs. The Nationals had confidence that Werth had hit his groove and everything would be fine.

Unfortunately, that did not happen. In Werth’s last three years he batted .221, .244, and .226. His home run totals were 12, 21, and 12. In his last three years, he never had more than 69 RBIs in a season.

He only had two good seasons (2013 and 2014) out of his 7-year contract. Neither of those was equal to his prior two years with the Phillies.

It is hard to argue that the $126 million was justified for how little Jason Werth added to the Nationals over the seven years.

Stats
Year
Average
HRs
RBIs
Runs
2011
.232205869
2012
.30053142
2013
.318258284
2014
.292168284
2015
.221124251
2016
.244216984
2017
.226102935
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    JAYSON WERTH

    • Team: Washington Nationals
    • Contract Info: $110 MILLION
    • Years Played: 7/7
    • Seasonal Average
    • AVERAGE: .263
    • HRs: 16
    • RBIs: 56
    • Runs: 64