I really don’t know why (the royal) we demand that ballplayers make their lives open books. I recall there being a stalking incident involving Werth at some point. It’s very possible that he just wants to protect his family’s privacy, which is a noble goal in and of itself.

If a guy wants to make his family available, great. If not, really, who cares?

It also bothers me when writers/media types conflate disdain for them and their profession for surliness and indifference. The innuendo and outright bashing of Werth among the local press this year has been awfully telling.

It really felt like everyone piled on after that foul ball cursing-at-the-fan “fargle bargle” incident. “Jayson Werth doesn’t want to be in Philadelphia,” etc.

Somehow I had never heard that the cause of Werth’s broken wrist was a pitch from AJ Burnett. Seems like that would have been mentioned during the World Series last year. Or maybe I just missed Joe Buck telling us something interesting about the Phillies instead of the Yankees.

Remember how Gaslamp Ball had that little tiff (or whatever the hell it was) with Jayson’s father? Well, let’s look at how J-Dub feels about his dad:

Shortly after Jayson was born, in 1979, she broke up with his father, Jeff Gowan, a standout wide receiver at Illinois State who spent a year as an outfielder on the Cardinals’ rookie league team. Werth’s relationship with his dad is strained. “He doesn’t deserve credit for anything I’ve accomplished,” Werth says, pointedly.