Padres outfielder Tommy Pham has been diagnosed with a broken hamate bone in his hand, manager Jayce Tingler said in an appearance with Jim Duquette on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM (Twitter link). He’ll head to the injured list, with Josh Naylor coming up from the alternate training site to replace him on the roster.
Surgery is often required when a player breaks the hook of the hamate bone, as Pham apparently has done. The injury was sustained in yesterday’s game when Pham fouled a pitch back. Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union Tribune reported last night that Pham’s hamb “went numb” as soon as he fouled that pitch back, adding that the organization was fearful of this very injury. If Pham does require surgery, it’ll very likely put an end to his 2020 season.
The 32-year-old Pham has gotten out to a slow start at the plate, hitting just .207/.316/.293 through 95 plate appearances. To Pham’s credit, evenn though he hasn’t been hitting for average or power, he’s still drawn a dozen walks and leads the league with six stolen bases (in six tries).
With Pham sidelined perhaps for the entire season, San Diego will now lean more heavily on Naylor for production while opening some playing time for Edward Olivares, Jorge Mateo and perhaps Jurickson Profar (now that Jake Cronenworth has taken over second base duties on a regular basis). Veteran Abraham Almonte remains on hand at the team’s alternate training site, and if the club wants to go with a higher-upside option, top prospect Taylor Trammell is also at the alternate site and awaiting his first call to the big leagues. He’d need to be added to the 40-man roster, but such a move could eventually be on the horizon depending on how the current options fare in Pham’s absence.
The Padres still control Pham through the 2021 season. He’ll be eligible for arbitration for the third and final time this winter.
That sucks. Hope he’ll be able to bounce back as quickly as possible.
he’ll have all off season to recover
He’s a really focused guy who has worked hard at a MLB career and overcome quite a lot of adversity in his life. He’ll be back.
The major League team needs to get this surgery done to guys who they are pretty sure will make it up. Do it in the minors during the off season. They only need to do one unless they are a switch hitter. It is an ins policy for later. The bone doesn’t do a lot so it is not a big deal but could save IL time later.
Incorrect
Naylor came up yesterday when they sent Badnar down. They will still need to make a corresponding move for Pham.
Probably a pitcher since they still have alenough OF on the roster
It’s probably going to be Bednar since they’ve been moving him on and off the active roster lately, or maybe Morejon because he was recently added to the taxi squad. They don’t really need extra arms though, the bullpen is mostly fresh considering Richards threw 7 strong yesterday. The pen is just blowing games but it doesn’t really look fatigue related.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but if a player gets sent to the Alt site, don’t they have to be there for 10 days?
So I don’t think Bednar will be it.
I think Morejon or Baez. I think that would excite the fans a little bit
I think they can be recalled before the 10 days are up in an injury situation
Correct.
They already had more than 14 pitchers on the team
Maybe France
Looks like France was it because he’s DH tonight. I think there were other moves as well since Mejia hit the IL and Torrens was recalled.
In hindsight makes so much more sense to bring a RH bat back up, so good call on your part.
“Pham’s hamb ‘went numb.'”
His “hamb?”
Lol….I saw that too
Preller moves continue to pay off….
Injury sucks, but Jake Cronenworth has been the crown jewel of that trade so far. Pham and Renfroe have similar numbers currently.
As cronenworth begins to come back down to earth as pitchers figure out his weaknesses batting .238 over the last 7 games it will be again a trade won by the Rays. Pham and renfroe have both been pretty useless but Edwards will blow away Cronenworth
Along with the Pagan, Margot trade that everyone trashed the Rays for. And Pagan continues to have problems while Margot’s hitting has been coming alive along with giving the Rays the best outfield defense in baseball
So pitchers will figure out Cronenworth but they won’t figure out Edwards?
I don’t fault Preller for the Pham trade. This is just bad luck.
Preller just spins in circles trying to get this team to contend and it doesn’t work. Many Padre fans get way too excited at the moves he makes. Grisham is falling back to the pack and Urias is hitting for Milwaukee, that has a chance to be a win win exchange but not some crazy fleece it was made out to be after Grishams hot start. Pham is damaged goods and anyone on earth would take Edwards over Cronenworth. Rays were ahead of the curve on Pagan and are going to win that deal too.
Spins in circles is the best analogy possible for SD –
While its not all been Prellers fault id want a new GM when
Paddack Gore Patino Lament are all together andl take the hill
Thats ultimately going to be the identity of this team and they probably have the rest of this year and next to figure out whoes gonna help Machado Hos Tatis on the field when that happens
Can’t imagine making a typographical arrur.
This sucks for Pham because he was hitting the ball hard but right at people and eventually he was probably going to get back to his career norms.
I think the Pads are now in kind of a weird platooning situation. Probably their best bet is to let Cronenworth play everyday at 2B so that with Profar being a switch hitter and Naylor/Oliveras they can get 2 righties or 2 lefties in the lineup between LF and DH. Not going to be able to stack the lineup as well against lefties unless Oliveras steps up or they go external and sign Puig or something.
Statcast favors your argument. 92.3 MPH exit velocity, which is 0.7 ticks off from his 2018 season. Meanwhile, his Expected Weighted On-Base Average Contact (XWOBACON) is actually a couple ticks up from last year (.415 over .407).
It’s basically as you put it, hard hit balls paired with bad ‘luck’, so to speak.
Link to players statcast/savant page: baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/tommy-pham-50…
It’s not bad luck. They’re shifting the heck out him and he hasn’t been able to adjust so far. And he’s not the only one.
I’ve always liked Pham, so this is hard to see. Mind you, this is the same injury that Gallo suffered last season that essentially made him sit out the rest of the year. Hope he recovers fully.
Might as well get the elbow surgery, too. As a position player he could recover before Opening Day 2021.
Isn’t hamate recovery like 5 or 6 weeks? It’s really tight timing wise but perhaps they’re optimistic that they could get him back for the last week of the season and then the playoffs (I’m not saying they will actually make the playoffs, I’m just saying the thought process might be to try get him back for that)
If he gets elbow surgery that’s all out the window.
That’s possible.
He could do the hamate surgery now and then see what the playoffs odds look like in four weeks. My heart says they might still be in it. My brain says the Padres weren’t strong enough anyway and their best bet is to get Pham as healthy as possible for next season. The worst would be to miss the playoffs, delay TJ until November, not get a full spring training, and only hit his stride in mid or late May.
4 weeks is probably the best outlook. 6 weeks is the average recovery time. For some it takes much longer. It depends on pain tolerance and how the nerve reacts to the surgery. It is possible he could return if they make the playoffs. I believe Tulo did it in four weeks.
Padres need to figure out what’s wrong with the pen.
Maybe its the pitching plan. Maybe it’s the players.
Anyways. Mejia should get DH duties being a switch hitter and Hedges should be behind the plate in Pham’s absence.
Call up Morejon for pen duties.
Naylor, Grisham, Myers in the OF.
Replace Naylor with Olivares against lefties.
At this point just let guys figure it out and play regularly and take their lumps.
Richard will be a nice trade piece as will Davies. After the trade deadline Paddack, Lamet, Quantril, Morejon. Patino. 5-6 innings let pen take over.
I like your plan but what if Hedges got hurt in game? Mejia can’t move to C if he is DH. France can emergency catch but I’d rather have a 3rd option on the roster in order for Mejia to DH.
I could be wrong but I’m pretty sure if hedges gets hurt, mejia can take over at catcher, but they lose the DH spot and the pitcher take over in the batting order.
Mejia could move from DH to C mid-game, the Padres would just have to give up the DH and have the pitcher take the starting catcher’s spot in the batting order.
I can tell you whats wrong with it. It was always overrated. When the Rays give up a seemingly player something is wrong with them. Stammen has mediocre stuff. Add the rash of injuries to it and there lies the issues.
Wasn’t Naylor already up in the majors?
I like Trammel, bring him on up. He brings a serious amount of energy and talent.
The pitching issues are due to the loss of Darren Balsely. Switching from the best pitching coach is not an easy change. He is going to need to spend a few days a week with the guys to iron out the issues.
Too simplistic to say Balsley’s absence caused the pitching problems. Lamet’s doing great without him. Pom is striking out 37% of the hitters he faces. Pagan was a double-digit K/9 reliever before he got to SD, he didn’t owe any of that success to any SD coach.
Some regression from Paddack was to be expected. Yates’ injury is the kind of bad break that happens to lots of players and teams.
The team always had holes. Maybe they start playing better, maybe not. You sure can’t DH somebody like 185/303/277 Profar or carry a -.4 fWAR at catcher and expect to make much noise.
If the struggles continue, I’d expect to see Trammell and Torrens, Maybe Campusano, don’t know his roster status. .
Grisham
Tatis
Cron
Machado
Hosmer
Myers
Profar (don’t love it)
Hedges/mejia (hate it)
Trammel (or platoon oli/naylor prob swap with profar in order)
Needs an AXE bat!
That’s so unlucky. Only 2-6% chance of breaking that bone. Did he make a diving catch or attempted catch?
A hamate break is usually from the knob of the bat, not from diving.
its in the top of the hand. Google said it could be from breaking your fall palms out.
The hook of the hamate is close to the wrist, pinky side. I’m sure you “could” break it by falling, but baseball players break it because their grip puts the knob of the bat against the hook.
Can’t hit without no ham bone.
Aybar is in the best shape of his life, he played well with the Padres and can play outfield.