Jayson Werth hasn’t played an inning yet, and won’t do so until at least Saturday. But according to the Phillies, it’s not an issue. From Charlie Manuel, via David Murphy:
“He’s just not ready to go. He’s just not ready to go yet. Swinging, running, everything. That happens a lot. It’s no big deal. He’s not a whole lot out of shape, just the way he’s been going through it.”
So Werth is training awkwardly? It’s slightly off-putting that Werth wasn’t ready to start playing games. Is he aching? Is he tired? I don’t quite understand how someone who’s supposedly not injured is having trouble playing simple Spring Training baseball. Even if he was “out of shape,” he could still play.
It’s interesting to note that Werth experienced some growing pains last spring. He scuffled for the first few weeks of play; still, he came out of the gates strong in 2008. For now this whole “issue” isn’t an issue, and we can take it with a grain of salt. But that fishy smell isn’t too far away.
Tim MalcolmTim first found the Phillies as a little infant at Veteran’s Stadium, cheering on a Juan Samuel game-winning home run in his very first game. With the pinstripes in his blood, he witnessed Terry Mulholland’s 1990 no-hitter, “Steve Carlton Night” at the Vet, game three of the 1993 World Series, countless games during the charmed 2008 championship season and various road excursions. Since November 2007 Tim’s been writing about them daily at Phillies Nation, becoming one of the world’s most popular Phillies scribes. You can catch him on Twitter and Facebook, as well. When he’s not talking about the Phils he’s relaxing with a St. Bernardus ABT 12 or one of his many favored brews.
