Jayson Werth battled through a tough season

As Jayson Werth sat in front of his locker late on Sunday afternoon, he reflected on one of the more chaotic seasons in his 13-year big league career.

"Obviously, the injuries are the one thing that sticks out," Werth said searching for reasons why the Nationals were heading home on separate flights instead of a charter to the playoffs. "We didn't win games. You look at what the Mets did down the stretch. That's how you win a division: Timely hitting, timely pitching, they matched up well, they won big games, they got big hits. We didn't do that. So regardless of injuries or anything else, I think that's the story at the end of the day."

For most of September, Werth publicly maintained the faith. As the Nationals headed home after sweeping Philadelphia on Sept. 16, Werth acknowledged that his teammates were aware of the Mets' collapse in 2007, which propelled his Phillies into the playoffs. But following Sunday's sobering result, Werth admitted that realization of an October without playoff baseball had set in long before.

"The season was in the bag, so to speak, for a while now," Werth said. "The writing was on the wall. We didn't really have a chance to make the playoffs for a while, so in that regard, it wasn't as tough as it could have been, I guess. I look at this season as an opportunity missed. It definitely didn't go the way we wanted it."

For Werth, the season certainly didn't go the way he expected. Surgery on his the AC joint in his right shoulder forced Werth to miss nearly all of spring training. After sitting out opening day, Werth joined the Nationals seven games into the season.

Werth struggled through the first 27 games of the year, slashing just .208/.294/.287 with two homers and 12 RBIs. Yet Nationals manager Matt Williams continued batting the veteran third in the lineup.

Unfortunately for Werth, it appeared his timing was starting to come around when he took a fastball off his left wrist in San Diego on May 15. The darting heater fractured his wrist for the third time in his career and robbed him of the next 61 games.

When Werth returned on July 28, general manager Mike Rizzo said the outfielder basically began his spring training. While he battled to find his timing over the next 19 games, Werth batted just .145 with 16 strikeouts.

Werth's bat finally came around at the end of the Nats' disastrous West Coast swing in Colorado. He went on a tear, hitting .279 with nine homers, one triple, 10 doubles, 23 RBIs and 27 runs scored over the next 36 games. But he faded again down the stretch, batting .151 over the last 14 contests.

Beyond his difficulties at the plate, Werth appeared more than a step slow in left field.

The 36-year-old is due $21 million on each of the final two seasons remaining on his contract with the Nationals.

Werth has obviously proved to be an enforcer in the Nats clubhouse, but can he sustain that intimidation level at the plate? With Denard Span likely gone to free agency, Michael A. Taylor is expected to take over center field. The question is whether Rizzo will aggressively pursue another outfielder, possibly a left-handed-hitting one, this winter for protection in case Werth can't make it through another season.

"Every year, you kind of go through that," Werth said. "Guys come and go. That's just part of it. I really don't have anything to do with all the other stuff. Right now, I think everything's pretty fresh, so give it some time, take a step back and probably have some perspective here in the next couple days."