2) Tommy Pham
Tommy Pham was a Gold Glove finalist last year with the Pittsburgh Pirates. He hit pretty well too, slashing .245/.330/.370. Free agency hasn’t looked fondly at him. Any team he does end up with tends to trade him, too. Pham spending all of last year with the Pirates is a bit of a miracle. The last season where he spent the whole year with one team was in 2021.
Pham has been posting similar numbers for years. He’ll bat anywhere from .240-.260 with a home run total between 10-15. A solid defender in left field who can play the other two spots as well, the soon-to-be 38-year-old continually gets overlooked whenever he becomes available. Is it his personality with the front office fearing a situation where Pham slaps a teammate? One of those baseball sparkplugs you love to hate when he’s on the other team and love when he’s on yours, he tells it like it is.
Upon getting traded by the Mets in 2023, Pham famously spoke about the lack of work ethic by the Mets position players group. He didn’t name specific names and sort of walked it back by saying certain guys do work hard. Who really knows? Pham didn’t seem like he enjoyed his time with the Mets as much as other one-year players did in the recent past.
Pham accepted a deal with the Chicago White Sox heading into 2024 which was technically a minor league contract but admittedly was more a way to let him have his spring training on the farm. We’re nearing March and the same scenario may need to apply again.
What’s strange is Pham hasn’t shown the signs of breaking down. He works hard. What is everyone so afraid of?
