The Pirates and outfielder Tommy Pham are in settlement on a one-year, $4MM contract, per Ken Rosenthal and Katie Woo of The Athletic. Alex Stumpf of MLB.com provides, barely extra particularly, that Pham is assured $4.025MM. The Vayner shopper can earn an extra $250K by way of incentives. Pittsburgh has a full 40-man roster already and might want to make a corresponding transaction to accommodate their newest signing.
Pham, 37 subsequent month, break up the 2024 season between the White Sox, Royals and Cardinals (his second stint with the staff that initially drafted him). He’s suited up for 9 groups in his 11-year huge league profession, together with seven groups previously three years alone, as he’s settled right into a journeyman position participant signing a collection of reasonably priced one-year offers that incessantly render him a commerce chip. The Pirates make a good ten groups as Pham heads into his twelfth huge league season.
Pham hit properly for the White Sox final season, slashing .266/.330/.380 in 297 plate appearances earlier than heading to the Playing cards as a part of the three-team Tommy Edman/Erick Fedde/Michael Kopech swap between the Sox, Cardinals and Dodgers. His return to St. Louis sparked a direct feel-good second, as Pham belted a pinch-hit grand slam in his first plate look carrying Cardinal pink since 2018. He adopted that up with three multi-hit performances in his subsequent 4 video games and went on to pop his second Cardinals homer just some days later. By means of eight video games again together with his authentic membership, he posted a Herculean .379/.400/.759 slash and appeared to be simply the jolt the lineup had wanted.
The great vibes didn’t final, nevertheless. Pham fell right into a deep hunch that noticed him go 3-for-39 because the Cardinals pale from competition. He was positioned on waivers in late August and claimed by the Royals, who plugged Pham in incessantly as they pushed towards their eventual postseason berth. He didn’t hit properly in Kansas Metropolis general however had just a few huge hits, together with a three-run homer towards the division-leading Guardians that proved to be a recreation winner. General, he completed out the season at .248/.305/.368 in 478 plate appearances.
Over the previous 4 seasons, Pham has produced offense nearly precisely in step with the league common. He’s a .242/.322/.391 hitter (98 wRC+) with 57 dwelling runs, 94 doubles, 9 triples, 51 steals, a ten.1% stroll price and a 23.7% strikeout price in that stretch. He’s been a bit higher towards lefties (.238/.328/.413) than righties (.243/.319/.383) however has usually held his personal within the batter’s field no matter opponents’ handedness. He did see a notable dip in batted-ball high quality (albeit with still-strong marks in exit velocity and hard-hit price) in addition to a notable dip in stroll price (all the way down to 7.3%).
Outcomes-wise, Pham’s 2024 output doesn’t look all that completely different from former Pirate Connor Joe, whom the Bucs non-tendered earlier this winter. He’d been projected for a $3.2MM wage. Like Pham, Joe is a righty-hitting nook bat who’s offered nearly precisely common offense lately. He’s slashed .238/.330/.396 in 888 plate appearances from 2023-24. Pham gives extra pace and a extra pure outfield glove (Joe break up his time between first base and the outfield corners.) Pham does have much better high quality of contact, so maybe that made the Pirates a bit extra bullish on his outlook than the comparably priced Joe, but it surely’s nonetheless fairly debatable that this can be a lateral transfer.
With the Bucs, Pham could be anticipated to play incessantly in a nook, maybe forming a de facto platoon with lefty-hitting Joshua Palacios or Jack Suwinski. Each struggled towards lefties in 2024, with Suwinski additionally struggling a lot versus righties that he was optioned to Triple-A at a number of factors. On condition that neither is established as a constant huge league presence, it’s potential that Pham merely emerges as an everyday alongside Bryan Reynolds and heart fielder Oneil Cruz.
The Pham signing isn’t particularly thrilling however is emblematic of the Pirates’ free agent method beneath proprietor Bob Nutting, who’s staunchly towards taking nearly any threat on the open market. The Pirates have by no means given a free agent greater than Francisco Liriano’s three-year, $39MM deal greater than a decade in the past. Russell Martin’s two-year, $17MM pact (additionally greater than a decade in the past) is the most important free agent position-player signing the staff has issued.
Beneath basic supervisor Ben Cherington’s watch, the Pirates have by no means signed a free agent to a multi-year deal. Aroldis Chapman’s $10.75MM pact final winter is each the most important signing for Cherington and the lone time Nutting has authorize an eight-figure free agent wage within the present entrance workplace’s tenure. The Bucs have spent extra on extensions for Bryan Reynolds (seven years, $100MM in new cash) and Mitch Keller (4 years, $71.6MM in new cash) however there was no urge for food for any significant threat with regards to open-market spending.
On paper anyhow, the Pirates regarded properly positioned to dip right into a stable crop of free agent first basemen and/or nook outfield bats as they regarded to beef up a lineup that usually lacked punch in 2024. They’ve as a substitute introduced in a brand new first baseman by way of commerce (Spencer Horwitz) and signed veteran position gamers Pham, Adam Frazier and Andrew McCutchen, with short-term offers to match on the pitching facet (Tim Mayza, Caleb Ferguson). The Pirates’ hope appears to be {that a} younger rotation anchored by Paul Skenes, Jared Jones and Keller could make additional strides in 2024, with rebounds and/or breakouts from Horwitz, Cruz, Suwinski, Nick Gonzales and different younger bats (Henry Davis, Endy Rodriguez, Billy Cook dinner) can spur a extra productive offense.
That’s an enormous wager to make, when the primary full season of Skenes/Jones dovetails with the Cardinals taking a step again and the Brewers seemingly unable so as to add to their payroll by any means this winter. The Pham signing pushes Pittsburgh’s payroll to $83MM, per RosterResource, just a few million shy of final yr’s $87MM mark. The Pirates haven’t run a $90MM payroll since 2017.
