Nationals sign Werth to 7-year, $126M deal

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. - The baseball winter meetings don't officially begin until Monday, but Winter Meetings Eve here at Disney World provided a pair of earth-shaking transactions - one expected for months, the other completely unexpected.

The Red Sox finalized a trade for San Diego first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, long an object of their affection. But another Boston target, Jayson Werth, surprised the baseball world by signing a seven-year, $126-million contract with the cellar-dwelling Nationals.

Gonzalez, 28, will join the Red Sox without a contract extension for now and can become a free agent after the 2011 season. But common sense dictates that the Red Sox wouldn't give up such a substantial package of prospects - including highly regarded pitcher Casey Kelly - for Gonzalez unless they had a strong sense that they could lock up Gonzalez for the long term. The two sides already have engaged in negotiations.

It's believed that Gonzalez wants the eight-year, $180-million contract the Yankees gave Mark Teixeira two years ago, and many talent evaluators consider Gonzalez the superior player.

With Gonzalez now on Boston's roster, Kevin Youkilis will shift from first base to third base and there is no room for free-agent third baseman Adrian Beltre, who enjoyed an excellent bounceback 2010 with the Red Sox. The Athletics expressed early interest in Beltre, but that interest wasn't reciprocated.

None of the players Boston sent is major league-ready for 2011, but Padres general manager Jed Hoyer and assistant GM Jason McLeod worked for the Red Sox and know the players extremely well.

The Red Sox, looking for an outfield upgrade, reportedly met recently with Werth, and they had strong interest in acquiring the righty-hitting outfielder. Not as strong as the Nationals, however.

Werth didn't come to the meetings, but his agent, Scott Boras, appeared at a news conference and praised Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo.

"Mike did a great job of illustrating his vision," Boras said, likening it to when he put clients Ivan Rodriguez and Magglio Ordoñez with the rebuilding Detroit Tigers.

"It kind of exemplifies phase two of the Washington Nationals' process," Rizzo said. "Phase one was scouting and player development, building the farm system . . . Now it's the time to go to the second phase and really compete for division titles and championships."

With that in mind, Washington figures to go hard after free agent Carl Pavano, who is the second-best starting pitcher available on the open market (after Cliff Lee). The Twins want to bring back former Yankee Pavano.

Because Werth went to a surprise suitor, the Red Sox and Angels could find themselves in a bidding war for the services of free-agent outfielder Carl Crawford. The Yankees also have checked in on Crawford but would seriously pursue him only if Lee turned them down for Texas or another club.

Crawford, 29, is viewed as a better asset than Werth and also is younger, so he can use that $126-million figure as a conversation-starter.

Whether the Angels or Red Sox, both of whom tend to exhibit at least some discipline when it comes to years, want to engage in that conversation remains to be seen.

With AP