The Mets and veteran outfielder Tommy Pham are in agreement on a minor league contract, reports ESPN’s Jorge Castillo. It’ll be the Republik Sports client’s second stint with the organization. He’d earn a prorated $2.25MM upon being selected to the majors and has an April 25 opt-out date in the deal, per USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. He can tack on another $850K worth of incentives, Castillo adds.
Pham, 38, spent the 2025 season with the Pirates and turned in a slightly below-average .245/.330/.370 batting line (95 wRC+), though last year’s production was skewed by an awful start to his season. The well-traveled outfielder caught fire in mid-June and slashed .278/.363/.468 with 10 homers, 13 doubles, a triple, an 11.7% walk rate and a 17.2% strikeout rate over his final 273 turns at the plate.
Pham’s first stint with the Mets came back in 2023, when he signed a one-year deal in free agency and enjoyed a productive stretch before being traded to the Diamondbacks. He logged 264 plate appearances with the Amazins, hit .268/.348/.472, and was flipped to Arizona in a deadline deal netting teenage infield prospect Jeremy Rodriguez.
Now back with the Mets, he’ll ramp up in Triple-A in hopes of hitting his way onto the big league roster. The Mets broke camp with top prospect Carson Benge as their starting right fielder, and the hope is that he’ll hit the ground running, but one of New York’s top fallback plans, Mike Tauchman, is out for the foreseeable future after suffering a meniscus tear that will require surgery at the very end of spring training.
Pham gives the Mets another veteran option to consider in the event that Benge, who’ll make his big league debut with only 116 professional games under his belt, is overmatched against big league pitching early in the year. He also provides a potential righty-hitting complement to the left-handed Benge; Pham is a career .261/.368/.434 against lefties.
Back in November, Pham told The Athletic that he’s still hoping to play several more seasons. His past few years haven’t been especially productive, though he revealed in that November interview that he played through plantar fasciitis the past couple seasons. He’s since undergone a stem cell treatment that he feels can alleviate the issue and help him regain some value on the basepaths. Pham hit .256/.326/.448 with 16 homers and 22 steals (in 25 attempts) between the Mets and D-backs in 2023. He posted a .246/.317/.369 line and gone 12-for-18 in stolen base attempts in the two subsequent seasons.
Mets addressing fans concerns that there might be too much good chemistry on the team
The Syracuse team? Who knows.
Teammates love Pham it’s fans that think he is a problem.
He just brings his terrible fantasy football management skills to the field and because he’s bad at that it makes him mad which carries to the field.
Strip club Tommy is about to show Syracuse a real good time. “Pay close attention, boys, this is how we do it in the big city.” 🤣
I think we only have a few strip clubs left here in Syracuse. Two closed over the last couple of years. Tommy has slim pickins for options.
I hear Bada Bing is the place to go. At least that’s what my friends and the internet told me.
Syracuse can be rough, sometimes you just need an enforcer to settle some fist fights. Esp when the fantasy football season starts.
His family must be so proud of the reputation he has with the fans.
He wants to play for a contender!
He coulda been a contenda!
LaFeur: It’s Opening day. Mets are not contenders yet. Time will tell. Team was good last year until they weren’t. That said I think they’ll be fine in 2026. Go Giants!!
Its opening day meaning every ball club is in contention for a playoff spot. The Tigers and Mets choked hard last year. Mets had alot of turnover. Them dang dodgers, im rooting for anyone who can beat the money printing deferring Dodgers!
By mixing in even worse chemistry lol
The Mets signed in enforcer
Looking forward to the first bench clearing brawl with Tommy in the mix!
Which one of his teammates will he be brawling with?
LOL darn it, that was good 😂
Depends on the day
Probably that CHUMP Joc Pederson
If not Pederson then probably the catcher
Who could he possibly be an upgrade over? And that doesn’t even take into account his charming personality, including bashing the Mets after he left them the last time. This makes no sense to me whatsoever.
Its a minor league signing. He could be an upgrade over Pache, Bae, and Jose Ramos. Considering that Benge is still unproven, Robert is injury prone, and Taylor did not hit last year, the Mets might just wind up needing that much depth. It makes sense if you stop limiting your perceptions of a team to just the 26- or 40-man roster.
He’s not signing to play in Syracuse, he’s hoping and expecting to be in Queens. In the meantime, he’ll make a fabulous role model for their young prospects. Even if he is better than the AAA players that you mentioned, there’s no universe in which I want him as part of my organization.
@SteveAdamsEsq: “He’s not signing to play in Syracuse”
He literally is. It’s a minor league deal. He’ll play in Syracuse until he’s needed or released or traded. Same as when they’ve had guys like Jackie Bradley Jr, Trayce Thompson, John Singleton, etc. in Syracuse the last few years. It’s depth you hope you don’t need, but might.
@SAE You don’t know what kind of role model he’ll be. He’s older now and none of you know what kind of teammate he has been or is.
Mike Tauchman
He could be an upgrade over Jared Young. Kind of depressing that Young is on the roster, even as the last guy off the bench. An interesting tidbit about Pham commenting that Mets players were too quick out of the locker room after the game is that Buck Showalter basically did not disagree with him.
That’s actually a really good point, @depletion. I keep forgetting Young is on the team.
What a joke
And he gets to be a lawyer? What a sick joke.
Fine depth
Joc Peterson will hit the IL during the Mets series
It’s Pederson
I was expecting Pham to sign with them over the winter. Seemed like a decent Plan C. But he was likely looking for a MLB deal and waiting for a team to thin out in the OF.
Nobody left a sign to a minor league deal? He was the last one still out there I guess.
I thought that he hated the Mets when he was here, lol
I think he just hates everybody in general
It’s possible that the ones he hated are now gone.
Different manager, coaches, and almost completely different players.
He stated that the ’23 team was the “least hard-working” group of any team he has been on while excluding Lindor, Alonso, and Nimmo. It’s a pretty bold statement but none of those three guys refuted his comment.
I hadn’t read about his exclusion of those 3 names. The only regulars left from ’23 besides Lindor are Alvarez, Baty and (sort of) Vientos. Unless he was referring to pitchers. As I noted above, Showalter did not disagree with Pham’s comment. Sho’ put his statement in a very veiled fashion, and I don’t remember his exact words.
I have never been one for this chemistry stuff. If the team is winning, then they have “chemistry”.
You don’t need chemistry in baseball. You need production.
He likes money, like everyone does.
“Strip Club” Tommy comes to Queens.
The Mets are Pham-i-ly!
Minor league cancer?
Major
David Stearns, people
After the great spring he had, they’re not even giving Pache an opportunity. There’s a reason this guy was an absolute blue chipper at one point. Just takes some of these guys a little longer sometimes. All I know is he looked great in the spring and they shot him down again for zero Tyrone Taylor, and now it’s going to be 38-year-old Tommy Pham ahead of him. I am not impressed at all with this Mets management.
Pham is pretty good depth to have, his bat is still decent.
From June on last season, there were games where he was the only Pirate hitting at all. And his defense wasn’t shabby either.
Why-he can run anymore-give a kid a chance
Now this is what I’m talking about. The Mets may not have made a groundbreaking move but as soon as Mike Tauchman went on the IL they addressed their lack of depth so maybe the Mets front office could teach the Braves a few things.
Well the season is beginning and we have a Tommy “no fan of him” Pham sighting. How many teams has he forced his way off before this signing? That said if they leave him in AAA as depth he has some attributes that could help the Mets on down the road unless they send him down the road because of his terrible cancerous attitude.
Nobody in these comments knows anything about what he’s really like in a clubhouse.
He’s been on 11 different teams over a 12 year period. A history like this often means they don’t get along with others and/or can br challenging to manage.
I suspect his stats are good enough that he is able to find teams who think his production will be worth having to deal with his interpersonal shortcomings until they actually experience those shortcomings for themselves.
Once they do, they correct their mistake by offering him up in a trade without asking for much in return which induces the next team to take him on because they feel his production will be worth having to deal with his interpersonal shortcomings.. rinse and repeat.
Problem with your theory is the Mets brought him back. But maybe it’s because they are the Mets.
And if this doesn’t work out for him, he can always challenge everyone to a fistfight.
This is a big yuck
He thinks he is a tough guy, like Tim Anderson.
Tommy Pham article gets you right to the comment section. I think a few of these guys here are auditioning for a Ryan Mountcastle Car Shield commercial.