Oct. 8 -- WERTH THE WAIT

BY SCOTT LAUBER

So, over the past few weeks, Jayson Werth has emerged as arguably the Phillies' top right-handed hitter. During the regular season, he established personal-bests with 24 home runs and 67 RBIs in a career-high 418 at-bats, and he batted .313 with a solo homer in the NLDS against the Brewers.

Watching on TV, Jim Tracy wasn't surprised.

Tracy, the Dodgers' former manager, is a big Werth fan.

"When you start talking about your five-tool player, this guy has a lot to bring to the table," Tracy told me in a phone conversation last night. "He can hit, hit for power, run, catch, throw. He's versatile. He can play every outfield position, and he can play them all well. What phase of the game is it that Jayson Werth doesn't do pretty well? There isn't one."

Tracy recalled the '04 season when, after being acquired at the end of spring training, Werth played his way into a starting role. Early in the season, Tracy said he used Werth primarily against left-handed pitchers. Soon, though, he began playing him against everybody. Here in Philly, we've seen Werth struggle against right-handers. Last week, he looked lost on a few swings against Brewers right-handers Yovani Gallardo and Dave Bush. So, I asked Tracy if he thinks Werth can become more consistent against righties.

"He can hit them," Tracy said. "But he's a notorious guy that you earmark if you're the opposition and say this fellow here is extremely dangerouis against left-handed pitching. Can he hit right-handed pitching? That's the thing we felt. He was just kind of marching into the big leagues in '04. It was still somewhat new. As we went along in the season, the type of at-bats he was taking, we felt like this guy is going to help us even against right-handed pitching. He was a capable enough guy to where, when he is pitted in the right situation, he's going to do well.

"If there's one thing, he's going to hit the ball out of the ballpark, so with that comes an occasional strikeout. If he can get to a point where he curbs those strikeouts a little bit, you talk about this guy's speed and power, that becomes a very special offensive player. He's already special, but then, all of a sudden, this guy starts to become a cornerstone of an offense."

Pat Gillick, who drafted Werth a decade ago and signed him with the Phillies before last season, agrees that Werth hasn't reached the ceiling of his potential. "He's a guy we felt had very good potential," Gillick said. "I don't know that this is a bump on the radar. We think he could be better than this. We think he can be a 30-40 [homer] guy. He gets a little more confidence and he can be a 30-40 guy. He can hit another 10 home runs. He didn't really get a chance to play regularly until the end of the season, so that's another 150 at bats he didn't get."

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Talked to Rudy Seanez today, and although he hadn't heard anything official from Charlie Manuel or Rich Dubee, he doesn't expect to be on the Phillies' NLCS roster. Seanez thinks J.A. Happ will remain on the roster as a long reliever.

"I don't think there's going to be a change," Seanez said. "As much as I'd love to be there, you've got to do what's best for the team, and it makes sense [to have a long reliever]. It's hard because you're a competitor. Some guys wait their whole career to get here, and for some guys, this may be it. But you've got to be unselfish."

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If circumstances had been different, Shane Victorino and Chase Utley may be playing for the Dodgers right now.

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As Martin Frank writes, Gillick has done well to fill the Phillies' roster with castoffs from other teams. Castoffs like Greg Dobbs, J.C. Romero, Scott Eyre, Chad Durbin and Werth.

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As Kevin Roberts writes, Carlos Ruiz has evolved into the preferred catcher for many Phillies pitchers, including Jamie Moyer.