Jan. 20: Pham has passed his physical, tweets Nightengale. The outfielder will earn a $200K bonus upon reaching 225 plate appearances with the Mets, and he’ll unlock additional $200K bonuses for every 25th plate appearance thereafter, all the way up through 450 plate appearances. With the physical complete, the Mets should announce the deal sooner than later.
Jan. 18, 10:26am: It’s a one-year, $6MM contract for Pham, tweets Jon Heyman of the New York Post. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale adds that the contract contains $2MM of available incentives and is expected to be finalized Thursday.
10:08am: The Mets and Pham have agreed to terms on a contract, Martino tweets. The deal is pending a physical.
9:44am: The Mets have an offer on the table to free-agent outfielder Tommy Pham and is optimistic about completing a deal, reports SNY’s Andy Martino. The Mets also made offers to Andrew McCutchen and Adam Duvall, per the report, but McCutchen preferred to go back to his original team in Pittsburgh while Duvall had the opportunity for more playing time in Boston.
Pham, 35 in March, split the 2022 season between Cincinnati and Boston, batting a combined .236/.312/.374 with 17 home runs and eight stolen bases in 622 plate appearances. It was a down season overall, but Pham’s line included a stout .273/.338/.446 batting line against left-handed pitching.
Additionally, Pham’s batted-ball profile also serves as a portent for increased production in the future. His 92.2 mph average exit velocity ranked in the 93rd percentile of all big league hitters, while his 48.2% hard-hit rate ranked in the 89th percentile, per Statcast. Even if bat doesn’t bounce all the way back to the levels those numbers suggest, there’s a good chance he can be a useful platoon option. Also, Pham also still drew favorable rankings for his arm strength in the outfield (74th percentile) and average sprint speed (66th percentile). Defensive metrics panned his glovework on the whole (0 DRS, -6 OAA), but the tools are there for him to rebound in that capacity as well.
From 2015-19, Pham was one of the game’s most underrated outfielders, batting a combined .277/.373/.472 (130 wRC+) with a hefty 12.2% walk rate against a 23.3% strikeout rate. He’s been a slightly below-average hitter overall since that time, but given his speed, arm strength and solid production against lefties, he’s a nice bat to have on the bench.
Pham is mostly limited to left field at this point in his career — he has just 91 innings in center field an seven in right field since 2018 — but he’ll give the Mets some outfield insurance while perhaps serving as a right-handed complement to lefty DH Daniel Vogelbach. That’s especially true if the Mets look to move on from Darin Ruf after a disappointing couple months in Queens following last year’s acquisition at the trade deadline.
While Pham himself might not be a backup option to Brandon Nimmo in center field, adding him to the mix provides the Mets with some additional cover in the event of an outfield injury. For instance, both left fielder Mark Canha and (especially) right fielder Starling Marte have experience in center field, so either could shift to center should Nimmo need a day off or a trip to the IL, with Pham then slotting into left field and Marte/Canha covering the other two outfield slots.
The Mets also have 24-year-old Khalil Lee as a lefty-hitting outfielder who can fill in at all three spots, though he has a minor league option remaining. Pham’s addition creates the possibility of sending Lee to Triple-A Syracuse for regular playing time — a luxury the team may not have previously been able to afford. Previously, the Mets’ only outfielders on the 40-man roster all projected to be on the big league roster as well, so the extra depth fills a clear need.
On top of Pham’s $6MM, the Mets owe a 90% luxury tax of $5.4MM, bringing their total tab for the signing to $11.4MM. New York’s projected bottom-line payroll for the 2023 season jumps to a bit more than $356MM, with about $374MM in luxury-tax considerations on the books. That puts them in well into the top luxury bracket and sets the stage for the Mets to be a third-time payor in the 2024 season, which point they’d owe an even steeper 110% tax on every dollar spent above the top line. Owner Steve Cohen has shown little concern with such penalties, however, and Pham’s luxury hit will be a relative drop in the bucket compared to the sum the Mets were planning to pay Carlos Correa before concerns regarding his medicals scuttled the 12-year deal between the two parties.
Must be a minor league deal…. As a Padres fan I watched him for a while. He was always a distraction in the clubhouse.
It’s definitely not a minor league deal
Looking forward to the Giants-Mets series
This guy got stabbed.
I wish Buck Showalter all the best trying to figure out his lineup this season
Nothing good happens at the strip club
Twice, once by his dad I believe.
You can stab this clown 100 times, but he never gets the point, does he…
Clubhouse cancer
1 yr, 6 million
With the CBT penalties it’s $12 million.
Who cares
He might not be the beat personality in the club house
“All I gotta say is I thank me for working so hard, putting in all those hours and never giving up”
You don’t wanna thank a previous coach?
“Nah I wanna thank me for busting his butt, working really hard and never giving up”
Walks off from interview
Not exact, but you want exact go look it up from the Rays playoff run….
Tommy Pham is an athlete regardless and 6 million for his services is a good bet for the “big fat wallet” of Steve Cohen Mets
I remember this interview. I thought it was hilarious. He is a prickly personality, but I appreciated the originality of the response.
Woah! Didn’t know about that one. “The way his hands hit him. It was dirty as f—,” Pham said. “I don’t like it at all. The way his hands hit him in the face, it was dirty. If Luke wants to settle it, I get down really well. Anything. Muay Thai, whatever. Like I said, I got an owner here who will let me use his facility. So f— it, I’m out.”
Yeah Mets just added WAR value to their on-the-field brawls.
PHAM!!!
“I remember throwing a ball against a wall and playing catch with myself..throwin a ball up, hittin it….throwing batting practice to myself” LOL he gonna win the series by himself too?
youtu.be/tGG_eWo6VcY Hands off his balls!
Clubhouse!? Didn’t he distract Joc Pederson in Centerfield during batting practice too!? Lol
Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.
We’re walking around schwagstock and this dude says “just cause you can find the drugs doesn’t mean you can handle them”
Gonna be hilarious when the Mets finish second.
or 3rd
Or worse Buzz. Pederson has a special needs brother who he obviously cares the world for. When Pham slapped him, his love for special needs kicked in, so no retaliation.
Since the Mets signed Pham, lets add Bauer, Ozuna, Chapman & whatever else the sanitation engineer collector forgot to pick up.
Lets go Mets…
” The team is “optimistic” about its chances of completing a deal”
Yeah! until call the Giants medical personnel for a second opinion .
Lol Mets he adds to the sideshow
Phamtastic, sideshow or 3 ring circus? Barnum & Bailey were competing against the Mets for this clown, I would have bet on Barnum & Bailey winning this battle because they threw in the bearded lady as a bonus…
Pham is washed up and is not a good guy…why any team wants him is beyond me
Mets Plan B after Carlos Correa LOL an upgrade from Ruf.
What do you want for $ 350 MM Payroll?
Exactly. Cohen said that Correa was the final piece that was missing, guess that is Pham now.
Cohen thinks We are Phamily worked for Pittsburgh eons ago so good investment. He adds character to the club.
They’re trading a 28 y/o Correa for 35 y/o Pham.
Oldest team just got older.
@RunDMC: They can’t trade Correa since he was never under contract oron the roster.
Figuratively trade, not literally, of course. They made offers to McCutchen/Duvall, and landed Pham – 1st big bat since the Correa signing with MIN. So instead of a 28 y/o they now have a 35 y/o. They might have signed a 4th OF even if landing Correa, but just interesting they’re not trying to get young at all.
Well, they are getting younger if you figure he’s taking Ruf’s roster spot, but he costs twice as much and is a minus in character. If he can get big hits for the Mets, I’ll be the first one to cheer but I don’t see how he’s a tremendous upgrade over Ruf or Alvarez or Vientos for the righty DH spot.
Age doesn’t really matter for a one-year contract, and young guys don’t always make good bench players.
Pham doesn’t make a good teammate or ballplayer.
@BaseballisLife: On what team did you play with him?
He DoucheBaron, do you actually read anything about the players or just comment on things you know nothing about?
@BaseballisLife: Yo Einstein, do you just believe everything you read without thinking or considering the source?
Your low intellect means you should learn that it’s better to keep your piehole shut and allow us to think you might be an ignorant doofus instead of opening it, spewing your uninformed BS as you did here, and confirm our suspicions. However, this concept is likely above your reading level.
I could see this as being an interesting move two years ago but the guy seems like a toxic clubhouse personality…
I didn’t see a lot of him with the Padres but the one thing that stood out was him almost getting in a fight with Kim because they collided over a pop fly. St. Louis shipped him out to Tampa, Tampa was happy to send him to San Diego, then he gets stabbed during the off-season outside a strip club, slaps a guy over fantasy football oh, and his numbers slide from good to awful… hard pass
Maybe he doesn’t pass the physical or in his case psychiatric exam
I do wonder what the Buck Schowalter effect on Tommy will be. Buck don’t play.
I agree, unfortunately we have a 350 payroll which is significant yet only a handful of players are worthy of the compensation they are receiving. It’s sad with such a payroll yet the team is not top notch.
Richard Alicea,
The Mets offense is pretty much the same as last year which tanked in September, lacks Power and is Station to Station. Not too sold on big offensive production from Alvarez, Baty or Vientos out of the Gate.
Pitching will have to carry the Mets but they are really old relying on Max and Verlander to carry the Water deep into a postseason run.
Looks to me like perhaps a high priced 3rd Place Team in Division with an Early Exit in the Postseason once again.
I disagree with your conclusion, for the following reasons. You could say the top end of the team is close to about what it was last year, but trading a partial year of deGrom for about a full year of Verlander is a definite gain. Carrasco is clearly the #5 now, and that’s a gain. Max might be a bit less this year than last, but that should be readily offset by the almost full year of Verlander. Senga is somewhat of a mystery now, but he can be anywhere from a pretty decent #4 to a solid #2. He has always pitched once a week, so we’ll see how that plays out, but Patterson was fine last year and should be a stronger spot starter this year, so that will help. The BP is looking pretty good, and there could still be one more solid addition. Good RP’s remain on the market and the team is looking.
The top five of the offense is the same as last year, and that was good. They produced a lot of runs. The weak spots were DH, PH, 3B for a chunk of the year, and PH. Regarding those, will Escobar step up across the full year and produce steady, rather than only at the beginning and the end of the season? We don’t know yet, and we don’t know either how Baty will fit in to the 3B mix this year. It’s potentially better, but potentially the same also. That we will have to wait and see. For the other spots, there has been improvement in the baseline for all three. Narvaez is a clear improvement over McCann. That goes without question. Nido may be able to improve his OBP and AVG, but we don’t know yet. And when will Alvarez be part of the catching rotation? If from the start, expect Nido to be traded. Either way, C is definitely improved over last year. For DH, Vogel will now be there the entire year, and Pham will be a good compliment against the left-handers. That is a big improvement over last year, where only Vogel produced, and that was only after getting him at the trade deadline. So we will have a full year of improvement from DH. And finally, the PH role Will also be improved with better bats on the bench.
So this Mets team is improved overall, even if we can’t point to Correa being added. The weaknesses have been strengthened. The Mets will come in first or second and be in the playoffs again. How far they go there we shall see. LGM!
Huck 3,
I have probably watched more Mets baseball than anyone having grown up with the ’69 Miracle Mets and the ’73 teams before leaving NYC to study at University in Chicago until I returned in ’83 with the arrival of Darryl Strawberry. I had full season’s tickets during that era and lived at Shea Stadium through 1993.
The Mets sole offensive additions this offseason are Omar Narvaez at C and now Tommy Pham as 4th OF. Underwhelming for sure. This is not the ’86 Mets club nor the ’69 Mets not by a long shot believe me.
Robrock, I am glad you had the chance to watch the ’69 and ’86 Mets in person. I was still in 8th grade in ’69 when the Mets stole it from the Cubs, then wiped out the Braves, and didn’t stop till the O’s were left wondering what happened. That was an amazing year! But I lived out on the Island – Suffolk County – so there was no going to the games for me. But we had WOR 9 and my dad got two newspapers every day, Newsday and either the Post or the Daily News. So I consumed them every day. Of course ’73 was good too, my senior year and then the start of college.
By ’86 I was in Michigan, so had to rely on USA Today. So you have certainly gone to far more Mets games than I have. I would have liked to as well, but it was just a game here and there while I still lived on the Island.
All that said, I still believe the Mets have put together a solid to very good rotation, a solid BP, with both equal or better than last year. And the top six hitters may not each duplicate last year’s results, but overall I expect about the same production. So it’s down to the last three and the bench. And except for 3B, the baseline for the rest should be improved. McCann was a huge hole, and he’s gone. Ditto Cano, Smith, J.D. Davis. (Side note: I won’t be surprised if Smith improves notably this year over last.) Vogelbach and Pham, while not exciting, will be an improvement over what we had. So if one or two of our rookies step up nicely, then we are better again. The division will be tougher this year, assuming the two Braves rookies don’t have sophomore slumps and Acuna returns to form, and the Phillies have improved with Turner and some other moves, so they’ll be a force once Harper returns. With the tougher yet division, we can be a better team this year and yet still not win as many games.
And you may be right, but I hope not. I’ll stay optimistic until they prove me wrong. So LGM! 🙂
@Robrock: Maybe not more than I have. Saw my first game at Shea on 6/18/68. Ryan faced the Astros with Rusty Staub at 1B. He walked 7 and struck out 12 with Ed Charles at 1B and Cleon Jones in RF.
Huck 3,
You are the exact same age as I 66 same as Steve Cohen so we are peers.
I originally was a Cardinals fan watching them in the World Series vs. Yankees, Red Sox & Tigers and can still cite their starting lineups. Favorite player was Lou Brock which is embedded in my screen name Lol. Started watching Mets when Tommy Davis arrived and remember him always receiving standing ovations just for coming to bat since he was a Brooklyn Dodger. Played Little League Baseball back then, collected baseball cards & rooted for Mets. Ed Kranepool attended the Banquet along with Roy White of Yankees and a former Dodger catcher former MLB Manager used to watch my Baseball Games. Watched ’69 WS in 8th Grade on TVs in classroom. Attended ’73 DH Holy Thursday vs. Cubs Willie Mays started in CF Koosman on the Mound. Season’s tickets through the ’86 Championship run.
baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN197304191.shtm…
baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN197304192.shtm…
Blue Baron,
I remember all of those players and watched Nolan Ryan which was like when Doc Gooden pitched with the Fans keeping count of Ks the Ryan Express. The Glider Ed Charles and of course Cleon Jones.
I used to also collect RC Cola or Coke Bottle Caps with Baseball players, and traded and flipped baseball cards had a huge collection all the Mets, Yankees, Cardinals, Dodgers, all the top players. Unfortunately I stored them in shoeboxes in my Parent’s House who moved while I was away at School and they disappeared. Too bad they would be worth a fortune today.
@Robrock: I’m 62. The Ryan game was 2 weeks before my 8th birthday.
That day was a double header. Wynn drove in the winning run for Houston with a solo home run off Ryan in the 7th.
I think the Astros won the 2nd game as well, but my girlfriend and future wife left in the 4th with the game tied.
BaseballisLife,
I sat in the Press Level Seating over 1B. Game 1 Willie Mays played CF, John Milner belted a HR, and Jerry Koosman pitched a complete game victory over Rick Reuschel. I got to watch the Cub greats Billy Williams and Ron Santo.
Game 2 Joe Pepitone (Yankee bad guy) played 1B and was heckled mercilessly and was soon Japan bound and done, the Stork played CF, and the Mets starter was bombed while Burt Hooton pitched a gem.
After the Game I waited out at the Players Parking lot chatted with the Players. Willie Mays was very friendly while Felix Millan wasn’t. He later cost the Mets the WS win with his error in Game 1 vs. Oakland. Of course the Mets not having drafted Reggie Jackson with the # 1 draft choice hurt as well.
He was talking about the Astros-Mets twinighter on 6/18/68. Correction to my post about the first game. Cleon played LF, Agee played RF, and the immortal Don Bosch played CF. Five of the Mets’ eight starters had BAs under .200 and Jerry Grote at .310 batted cleanup.
On 7/29/76, I hung out behind the visitors bullpen following a Pirates-Mets game and got Willie Stargell to sign my program by rolling it up and passing it through the wire fence. I still have it. I later met Jim Rooker, who pitched against Mickey Lolich that day, at Three Rivers Stadium on a 1986 visit to Pittsburgh. Very friendly guy who claimed to remember that game.
And gave him 6M
He’s gonna be the villain that screws up a perfectly good team.
$3M and a fantasy football draft party at Hooters.
The whole league is invited….except Joc.
Mets under Cohen seem obsessed with leaking information.
Made on offer to a deal in 12 minutes.
Compared to prior ownership and front office staff, Cohen and the FO are tight-lipped.
Very good platoon and clutch stats last year.
Quite the contrary, I’m amazed at how tight-lipped the FO has been and how we’ve had little to no knowledge of deals before hand.
Now we’ll see if one bad apple really does spoil the whole bushel
The good ol Mets we loved to hate are gonna be coming back on in to town after Pham screws everything up.
Good ball player who gets on base.
OBP dropped all the way to .312 last year
The Mets should have made a trade for a backup outfielder. Not a good move. They will need to make a mid-season trade for an outfielder.
was hoping they would trade for Jake McCarthy from Diamondbacks as backup outfielder.
If he’s not playing he is going to be an unhappy camper. Dude has some screws loose.
Two years ago, Pham was stabbed at Pacer’s, a strip club in San Diego. He’d screamed at someone who asked him to move his car. Last year he had a pregame batting practice dust up with Joc Peterson over a fantasy baseball league. This coming year it’ll be something else. Pham is a huge distraction and a detriment to whatever team signs him.
Pacers…that place is straight filthy! He could of classed it up and went to Les Girls and then went and got a Double Double and some fries.
Imagine leaving a strip club to go to a place called “Less Girls”
“The way his hands hit him. It was dirty as f—,” Pham said. “I don’t like it at all. The way his hands hit him in the face, it was dirty. If Luke wants to settle it, I get down really well. Anything. Muay Thai, whatever. Like I said, I got an owner here who will let me use his facility. So f— it, I’m out.”
He’s a slap hitter ain’t he?
This fool keeps it real.
Homie almost got a mural in my hood, but ended up a free agent. People in Linda Vista don’t play that fool would of ended up tagged up.
It was probably peeps from the LV that shanked him at Pacers.
“I didn’t like it. I didn’t like it. I don’t like it at all,” Pham said. “They can say what they want. Everybody on that side, man, they know I get down. I know a place here, I know an owner who would let me use his gym if we need to settle anything. So they can take it whatever. That play was dirty.”
LOL
The Mets are a joke – worse then the Padres.
Showalter + Pham = somebody’s masters thesis on interpersonal relationships.
4th outfielder. Lotta names NYM didn’t get want to play everyday
Pending physical so this deal might fall apart yet.
Terrible. Too much over-analyzing. Pham will be a DFA by June
In what world do you sign a 35 year old to DH and play OF? And they won’t DH the #1 prospect in baseball because “he has to work on catching”
Legitimate core bat like Alvarez will be wasting away at AAA
There’s an endless # of OF’s you can get on a minor league contract that would have been better than Pham
You have enough chase rate/BB% guys. They need a dangerous power bat, which they have in Alvarez, but foolishly refuse to play him
Alvarez’s greatest value is a Catcher and not a DH — which is why he needs to catch daily at AAA to start the season.
Nobody is saying he’s not going to eventually be the catcher
You’re saying Alvarez catching in AAA is more valuable to the Mets and better for Alvarez than getting regular major league at bats as a DH this season
70 extra games at catcher in AAA won’t make him a significantly better defensive catcher and he won’t be getting major league at bats
Of course he’ll eventually be the catcher, but right now everyone is better off having him DH
He can catch regularly at the major league level at some point to improve. Getting 70 games catching at AAA isn’t going to make much of a difference
I get what you are saying, but I would imagine they want him to get some ABs before he gets called up. His sample size in the majors last year was awfully small. I think they will call him up early if he starts out hot at AAA.
I think they made mistakes getting Vogelbach
I know they like the chase rates, BB% with Vogelbach vs LHP but there’s too many downsides with the base running and inability to hit vs RHP
Vogelbach/Pham is not better than if they had just went with Alvarez at DH and signed younger, athletic fourth outfielders
His greatest value is catching, however, he’s still young and can learn on the fly with the majority of his ABs as a DH. His offensive game is already major league ready, no need to keep him at AAA just because we want him to continue to hone his catching skills, that is clearly dumb. With that said, I expect Alvarez to have a break out ST and force the Mets to carry him on the 26 man roster.
Alvarez’s value is his bat.
It’s weird sometimes in MLB how some guys keep getting chances, while others who are far more deserving don’t get them.
Those 70 extra games Alvarez catches in AAA are really going to be the difference between a bad and a good defensive catcher
Mets made mistakes with the Vogelbach and Ruf trades. They should trade Vogelbach and go with Alvarez as the DH. Yeah they have less depth that way but you’re putting your best lineup out there
The lack of base running is a major liability from Vogelbach and he isn’t much of a power threat
Alvarez is the power threat they need
Alvarez, Baty and Vientos could all be in NY second half of the season (or earlier) if they continue their progressions at AAA. Pham, Ruf and Vogelbach are simply plan b insurance policies. Offensively Mets are in great shape.
There’s an interview with Pham during the Ray’s 2019 playoff run where someone asks Pham what does the team need to win. Pham says himself playing his best and they’ll win. Then they ask Pham who he’s like to thank for his success and he says himself.
He goes on to talk about how when he was a kid he’d play catch by himself. All he had was himself and no one was there for him. He’d throw the ball against a wall the. Go pick it up.
David Ortiz makes a funny and says, “damn Tommy gets some friends.”
Me,myself and Pham
A crazy idiot in the Big Apple…what could go wrong?
At this point if I had to choose between if I wanted Pham or Puig on my favorite MLB team I would choose neither.
Absolutely
This move shows how thin the RH/corner outfielders market is this offseason.
Why?
Boy they throw away cash like it’s nothing. Good money after bad. What a racket.
I surprisingly didn’t hate the guy last with the RS, but he had a 67/14 K/W with modest power, and no discernible defensive skills. He’s not without talent, but over the past 3 years, he has a 0.8 bWAR/650PAs. And there were no problems with the RS last year, but he had the stabbing incident and the slapping incident previously.
With a $365M payroll, I’d have thought this was exactly the guy you’d look to avoid.
JUSTIN UPTON C’MON!!!! Pham & Alonso going to get into a rumble I have feeling
That’s tomorrow’s signing.
Not a huge pham of this deal. He seems like a poor fit for the clubhouse
Hey Pham’s numbers even down last year are better than Conforto’s in his last year with the Mets so why not?
He may have his issues but this is sports he is no Bauer or Watson!
Good luck for Giants fans when they see Conforto CHOKE in the clutch. Pham is cheap and one year who cares and he is better than Darrin Duff!
Mike conforto 2020 season 2.0
$6 million seems like a lot for a fourth outfielder who can’t hit.
Oh he can hit alright
Well, he can slap.
i find it hard to believe this was the best the mets could do. maybe it was just the best billy eppler could do. this does not seem like a good idea.
Don’t let him near any exotic dancing establishments.
As a Braves fan, I will say that Pham is probably going to be the one to get a huge hit at some point against us. He’s pesky.
What I really wanna see is how Pham deals with the NYM fans. If he sucks he’s gonna get heckled mercilessly. You just know that’s not gonna end well.
Ew, Mets were gonna be my National League team too.
One year for six million. That’s a slap in the face.
A slap in the face of all decent ballplayers that Pham got $6 million? I agree.
The Flim Pham man
Dang I was hoping he’d go to the Giants
Given the Seinfeld connection, this is how Mets fans should say “Pham”:
youtube.com/watch?v=WeJGW2PAyMM
The fact that this article makes no mention of his previous fantasy team standings is tantamount to a slap in the face to all the MLBTR readers.
Tommy is in NYC scouting out the strip clubs as we type.
I’m guessing he’s already done field research in every city with a MLB team.
How’s this dude get a deal before Profar? This fool is a straight cancer in the clubhouse. Always has that mean mugging look on his face and got stabbed in one of the chillest cities in the US. Mind you, Sports Arena is a filthy area of San Diego soo…
But, this dude gets a deal before Profar?
Why, because Profar is to high on himself. He wants 2yrs $20mill. He’s going to find himself competing for a spot in the spring. Especially if Pham is getting a deal before you.
“Always has that mean mugging look on his face”
Hmmm.
“Fans have been very disrespectful this year,” Pham said. “I actually saw a fan who was talking (trash) to me. I saw him outside the stadium. I said, ‘What’s up? You still want to talk that (trash)?’ He went completely blank. That just shows you people feel entitled.” – Tommy Pham
Pham is lying. How long does it take a clubhouse to empty out after a game? I’m guessing 45-60 minutes? How long do fans hang out. The stadium probably empties in 30 minutes or less.
And the players likely have their own, secured, parking areas. So Pham wants people to believe that some fan that trash-talked him was hanging out in the players parking area, waiting for him?
And then backed off when Pham challenged him? It’s that attitude that the NYM should find troublesome. Almost like the dude is looking for trouble.
He is always looking to create his own trouble.
Oh, he’ll find plenty of trouble in Queens, and it will find him – not the other way around.
This is gonna be an interesting clubhouse energy.
So the Mets made an offer to Andrew McCutchen and he turned them down. I guess Cohen can’t have everything he wants. Cutch probably took a lot less to return to Pittsburgh but is a lot happier.
Tommy Phan would’ve fit right in with 80’s-90’s baseball.
I really don’t like this move and would go as far as saying it’s a waste of money
6M for a douchebag I’d say so
The Mets should’ve signed Duvall or Luke Voit to DH and backup 1b/OF, now they have mentioned Chafin, I’m sure they’ll wait too long and he’ll sign somewhere else
Andrew Chafin doesn’t like big cities so I don’t see him in 1/3 MLB teams.
With the added incentives, the price seems a bit steep for a player whose fWAR value was estimated at $5 million last year.
One step closer to ‘86 Mets vibes with this dude! Not sure why the Mets signed him. Gonna be a distraction in the clubhouse.
6 million seems like for a lot. Pham hasn’t been good as of late, but Uncle Steve has money to burn like that I guess.
I dont care who you are, if you’re not getting regular ABs you’re not going to see the ball well or get your timing down
Pham will be in vs lefties. But how effective can he be only starting once a week
Ruf was terrible in the same role for the same reason
I still maintain the Mets are better off shuffling guys around at DH and going with Guillorme and other defense oriented bench options than the platoon approach
In other words, keep giving the same pool of guys regular ABs
Let the kids play. If we’re talking about a RH DH, I’d much rather watch Vientos try and possibly fail than watch Pham or Ruf suck.
He still wants to fight Luke Voit
I hope there’s a provision in the contract that says he can’t play FFB.
Pham was a nice spark atop the Red Sox lineup when he was first acquired. However, there has to be a reason they didn’t try to bring him back and i wonder how quickly his personality will come back to bite him in New York
Yup, but quickly fell back to Earth. Pham had a .236/.298/.374 line w an 87 OPS+ on the Red Sox by the time he was done. He had a nice first month there, but it was fueled by a lucky BABIP close to .400.
The Red Sox know they got some luck for a little while, and they know where Pham is. $6m is almost startling for a washed up player, but these are the Wilpon Mets if Jeff had an unlimited amount of money.
For the money they are paying Pham, they could have signed Duvall or even cheaper option, could have been inquired if they could swap Ruf for Laureano in OAK who makes similar salary and reportedly was available from the A’s.
Duvall looks done, as well, but at least he has a recent power season on his resume and he’s a year younger. Gawd, that OBP is just rancid though.
How is it the Mets want to pay 6m for a DH against RHP, but for a guy who can’t hit RHP any more and can’t defend any more, when they have a couple of minor leaguers who can do that job at least at the plate and do it probably much better than toasted guys like Pham?
Duvall’s defense is actually better than Pham’s too. Is the problem that Duvall’s looking for a multiyear deal?
Need to remember that the Mets are deep into the Cohen penalty phase of the CBT. Pham doesn’t cost them $6 million. His cost is $12 million because they are paying 100% penalties.
@BaseballisLife Makes you wonder WTH Cohen is doing since he was willing to go to $380m if they had gotten Correa.
If the FO was aware they wanted to upgrade 3B, why wait until everyone but Correa was off the board? Why not get into the bidding for Xander Bogaerts, who is willing to play 3B? Or why not deal from Baty, Vientos, and Mauricio if you’re bent on adding a 3Bman—even to the point of dealing all of them for a star?
It’s impossible at this point to believe other than Cohen just decides on a whim to boost payroll by $30m, and that there’s no coherent strategizing going on during the year because that’s impossible when a team owner won’t let the GM acting as his mouthpiece know what he can spend from minute to minute.
No wonder no one but Eppler was willing to take the job. Discussions when they got to Cohen would have made it abundantly clear to any candidate how deeply Cohen would be involved, and in what way.
This is exactly how the Wilpons used to sabotage their GMs, forcing them to go month to month, even week to week during the offseason and come to ownership for every remotely significant FA the GM wanted to sign, which were then decided on based on the very different criteria each of Fred and Jeff had for free agents. Just abysmal.
Lol again at Mets. So funny how they can’t do anything right. Quite possibly the worst replacement you can find for a guy like Correa. I thank god every day for not making me a Mets fan.
@icantstandyous Pham isn’t a replacement for Correa, though it is indeed funny that Cohen waited until all the stars except Correa were off the board—and Correa was all but signed by the Giants—before Cohen got off his butt and realized the Mets were 5 or so wins short of a team that could pass the Braves.
As for adding anyone, why would the Mets think Pham is, you know, actually good? He can’t hit any more. He can’t field. The Mets either needed a big bat or an OF glove who could handle CF, and Pham isn’t close to either of those players.
Those players aren’t easy to find, and waiting until the end of the offseason to find that guy, and to find a fourth big arm for the bullpen, especially with two ancient setup men, is the height of foolishness.
Cohen is not a coherent thinker when it comes to baseball.
Phamtastic! Let the NYM enjoy this wannabe gangsta
Wow, even with a new owner, the Mets continue to try to keep up their long tradition of stupid decision making.
They seriously couldn’t sign someone other than Pham? And at a cheaper price?
Great signing, I think hes gonna surprise a lot of people this year. I’m forcasting .250 BA, .330 OBP with 15hrs
The height of laziness. Pham is done. 231/.324/.372 over the past three seasons with a 93 OPS+, and he was even worse than that in 2022: .236/.312/.374 w an 87 OPS+ in 2022, and this will be his age 35 season.
Pham also has pitiful defensive numbers almost entirely as a LFer over the past three years.
Reminds me of the hopeless moves for ancient FAs the Steinbrenner Yankees would make when they were missing the postseason for 13 straight seasons.
Strip Club Tommy goes to Queens. This is a train wreck waiting to happen.
He sucks. What a gigantic mistake.
I’m a Reds fan and we REALLY need outfielders but I’m so glad you signed him. Good luck!
Taking a long time to announce. Hope they didn’t find anything of concern during his physical.
Whew!!!