For his next trick...

 

(Jayson Werth picks a card from David Blaine at last night's ziMS Foundation event at Nationals Park. Photo courtesy of @misschatter.)

...can illusionist David Blaine make Jayson Werth's baseball career reappear?

Or at least the beard? 81 games into his seven year stay in DC, and Jayson Werth has been nothing short of a disappointment. Werth's June was awful (.154/.291/.286) and his lack of production and incredibly shrinking slash line (.223/.326/.390) begs the question: is he playing hurt? Is his knee bothering him more than he's letting on? Davey Johnson sat him on Wednesday; Washington Post's Adam Kilgore had this explanation from Davey for the extra day of rest:

Werth, already dealing with a sore left knee, felt tightness in his hip last night. “It locked up on him during the game last night,” Johnson said. “They were yanking all over him, trying to get it loose. It wasn’t great, but he went out there and finished the game. I went to the trainer and I said, ‘If we have a problem and he comes in like that, I’m banging him.’ I’m not waiting around, hoping it loosens up, putting him out there and then he pulls a hamstring because of it. It also comes in we’ve got tomorrow off so get a chance to get back to 100 percent.”
(via Nationals Journal, 6/29/2011)

Of course, Werth appeared as a pinch hitter in the 8th inning of Wednesday's game with the tying run on base and, true to his 2011 form, struck out looking.

Here's hoping for better things to come for Werth over the 2011 season's final 81 games, and 1053 games remaining on his contract. That should be enough time for Mike Rizzo's $126 M gamble to pay off. Right?

Befriend the Nats Enquirer on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter.

Comments

[Michael L.G.]

...can illusionist David Blaine make Jayson Werth's baseball career reappear?

THAT WOULD BE "THE GRAND ILLUSION"

[Michael L.G.]

http://www.lyricsfreak.com/s/styx/the+grand+illusion_20132977.html

Yep, the Grand Illusion. $126,000,000 disappeared and nobody saw it coming, or did we?

[von_bluff]

Anybody else notice Mr. Nats320 front and center? I would kill for those connections.

[Michael L.G.]

von bluff - You would want that guys life? He is a joke to anyone who follows the blogs. How do you know he didn't pay $500 for the tickets? No press in the VIP area so either he paid for them or someone else paid for them for him.

[ac]

I'd rather have David Blaine make Werthless disappear and leave his contact behind for more deserving players.

[Nor'Easter]

At the end of this season, Werth will have approx. 3,000 At Bats in 888 games, over the eight seasons since he became a regular player.

Based on those eight seasons, his Nats seven-year contract translates to:

$162,162 per Regular Season Game (a perfect number for baseball), and
$ 48,016 per At Bat

Nice werk if you can get it!