Washington Nationals outfielder Jayson Werth may be wearing a “W” on his hat, but he thinks that it easily could have been  “P” – for the Philadephia Phillies.  According to Paul Hagen of the Daily News, Werth believes that he and Cliff Lee could have both signed with the Phillies.

“I think if they would have played it right they would have had us both. I mean, they traded Cliff away for prospects [after the 2009 season] and then realized that was probably not what they should have done,” Werth said. “They ended up paying him a lot more [5 years, $120 million] than they would have if they’d signed him the year before. Then we would have had him. Chances are if they had signed him before they traded him, it probably would have made it a little easier to sign me.”

Luckily for Werth, he wasn’t banking on the Phillies.  He quickly signed a seven-year, $126 million contract with the Nationals, but in doing so he went from a first place to last place team.

“At that point, I kind of felt it was going to be one or the other. When it wasn’t me, and what they were talking to me about in terms of years, it kind of made it seem like they were playing us against each other a little bit,” he said. “That’s the name of the game. That’s the business of it. You miss on one, you get on the other. That’s how they played it. Unfortunately, I think if they’d played it right, they probably could have had us both.”

The Phillies eventually signed Lee to a five-year, $120 million contract, but that was after trading him to the Mariners after the 2009 season.  The team then acquired Roy Halladay and signed him to a friendly three-year, $60 million extension.

“That’s the name of the game,” Werth said. “That’s the business of it. You miss on one, you get on the other. That’s how they played it. Unfortunately, I think if they’d played it right, they probably could have had us both.”

“When you make it to free agency, you can look at it one of two ways,” he said. “You can look at it as you’re a member of the MLB Players’ Association or you can look at it as you play for a specific team. I was trying to maximize things.”