Remember when all those people (full disclosure: myself sort of included) were howling about the Jayson Werth contract because of the thought of paying a 39-year-old Werth $18 million in 2018? You're all wrong, dummies. If you checked your facts, you'd know that Werth will actually make $21 million that year when he's 39.
↵Wait, what? Yes, it's true: the Nationals have backloaded Werth's contract so Werth will make more money when he's older. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports has the details of the contract here:
↵↵↵↵↵Werth 7-yr, 126M deal w #Nationals: 4M signg bnus payable b/w 1/11, 1/12. Annual salaries: 10M, 13M, 16M, 20M, 21M, 21M, 21M.
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There are a lot of sensible reasons to pay Werth just $10 million in Year 1, ranging from the flexibility gained to make other moves to the fact that the Nationals will need to save some dough with fans unlikely to show up in waves without Stephen Strasburg in the lineup. But still, Werth is going to make more money when he's older. Here's hoping his game doesn't age.
↵Also, if you're one of those people who wondered why Werth is sticking with No. 28 and forcing Michael Morse, who sees Werth as an idol, to switch, it's a part of his contract. It would be hilarious if that was a dealbreaker.