Most people are assuming that Jayson Werth has played his last game for the Phillies. He’s planning on holding a press conference at 1PM Eastern today, and no matter what he says, people will read all manner of things into it, including the desire to test the free agent market. Phillies GM Ruben Amaro, who just spoke with Ryan Lawrence of the Delaware County Times, is getting out in front of that train:
“(Do we have) enough money and would we like to bring (Werth) back? The answer to both of those questions is yes . . . However that will kind of depend on what the ask is and how that will affect us with other possible moves we would have to make to do that . . .”
That’s a pretty tortuous response. Everything past the “however” seems to negate the stuff that come before, with it all amounting to him saying “I have no idea if we can bring him back.”
But I bet Amaro is kind of counting on the first part being all that comes through to the public: the Phillies have the money and the desire. That way, if Werth does go elsewhere, no one can say that the Phillies didn’t try or got outbid. Rather, it will be about Werth simply wanting to leave.