Former Phillie Jayson Werth Says He Hates The Phillies

Former Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Jayson Werth is making it clear he resents that his old team signed Cliff Lee and not himself.

The Washington Post was at spring training with the Nationals', Werth's new team, when it caught an exchange between Werth and Nationals' general manager Mike Rizzo.

Post reporter Thomas Boswell makes it clear the trash talking was for the benefit of the press - and maybe sell a few tickets in Washington.

"Once Werth got back behind the cage, Rizzo said, 'I hate the [expletive] Phillies,'" Boswell recounts.

Rizzo then talked at length about how the Phillies used "dirty plays" in recent years

"I hate the Phillies, too," Werth added.

Werth was on the fringes of baseball when former Phillies GM Pat Gillick resurrected his career.

Werth also signed a $126 million contract in the offseason that stunned many baseball observers, given that Werth had only a handful of successful seasons in the major leagues.

He is also now the face of a franchise with big hopes and a track record of being a last-place team.

Last Tuesday, Werth also said the Phillies had a choice to keep him in Philadelphia, but they overpaid Cliff Lee.

“They ended up paying him a lot more than they would’ve signed him the year before," Werth said. "Then we would have had him. Chances are if they signed him before they traded him, it probably would’ve made it a little easier to sign me.”