{"id":81253,"date":"2024-07-25T18:05:40","date_gmt":"2024-07-25T22:05:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=81253"},"modified":"2024-07-25T18:05:40","modified_gmt":"2024-07-25T22:05:40","slug":"pirates-white-sox-pham-potential-trade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/07\/25\/pirates-white-sox-pham-potential-trade\/","title":{"rendered":"Rumor: Pirates in on White Sox Outfielder; Why They Should and Shouldn\u2019t"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Pittsburgh Pirates are rumored to be making a pitch for well-traveled Chicago White Sox outfielder <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/p\/phamth01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-07-25_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tommy Pham<\/a>. If the Pirates successfully pull off a deal for Pham, they would be the ninth stop for the 11-year veteran.<\/p>\n<h2>Rumor: Pirates in on White Sox Outfielder Tommy Pham<\/h2>\n<p>After being part of an Arizona Diamondbacks team that made an improbable run from the wild card to the World Series last year, Pham, 36, entered 2024 as a man without a baseball home. Finally, on April 16, after the regular season was well underway, the Chisox <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/04\/14\/tommy-pham-close-white-sox-deal\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">signed<\/a> Pham to a minor league contract. The White Sox selected Pham\u2019s contract on April 26 and installed him in center field as they awaited <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/r\/roberlu01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-07-25_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Luis Robert Jr.<\/a>\u2019s return from the injured list. Since June 14, Pham has been Chicago\u2019s right fielder. Entering Thursday\u2019s action, the right-handed batter is hitting .264\/.332\/.378, 5 HR, 18 RBI, and 102 OPS+ in 2024.<\/p>\n<p>Pham began 2023 with the New York Mets, for whom he hit .268\/.348\/.472, 10 HR, and 36 RBI. The Diamondbacks picked him up in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/news\/tommy-pham-d-backs-trade\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">deadline deal<\/a> for a prospect. He hit .241\/.304\/.415, 6 HR, and 32 RBI for Arizona.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Tommy Pham upping that trade value \ud83d\udca3<\/p>\n<p><a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/qboP3JqUOA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/qboP3JqUOA<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Sox On Tap (@SoxOnTap) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SoxOnTap\/status\/1815540839575417019?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 23, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3>Why the Pirates Should Get Pham<\/h3>\n<p>The Pirates\u2019 offensive woes have been well-documented <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/06\/28\/pirates-midseason-report-card\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">here<\/a> and elsewhere. Despite some recent improvement, they\u2019re batting .232\/.300\/.369 as a team. All three of those figures rank 14th in the 15-team National League. They also rank 12th in runs, 14th in hits, and 11th in home runs. With runners in scoring position (RISP), they rank 27th among the 30 major league teams, hitting .229\/.312\/.370. Where they excel is at striking out. They\u2019ve struck out 922 times so far, the third-worst figure in the NL.<\/p>\n<p>Pham might be attractive to the Pirates for his numbers in RISP situations, where he\u2019s slashing .296\/.392\/.318 in 44 at-bats. In 26 at-bats in so-called high-leverage situations, he\u2019s batting .346\/.500\/.346. Admittedly, those are relatively small sample sizes for a regular. By way of comparison, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/r\/reynobr01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-07-25_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bryan Reynolds<\/a>, for example, has 81 RISP at-bats and 73 high-leverage at-bats. Then again, remember Pham plays for the lowly White Sox, who just might be remembered as one of <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/04\/25\/white-sox-1962-mets\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">the worst teams in baseball history<\/a>. Pham has demonstrated that he\u2019s made for big moments. In 31 postseason games, he\u2019s hit .313\/.333\/.513, including .421\/.429\/.737 in last year\u2019s World Series. His Arizona teammates praised his character and winning mentality.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jb2hetCqiDk?si=90Bq7GzLc1DV3-4t\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>As a center fielder, Pham would be stepping into a position where the Pirates badly need an offensive upgrade. They\u2019re getting the worst production from center field in all of baseball. The present platoon of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/s\/suwinja01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-07-25_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jack Suwinski<\/a> (.187\/.270\/.332) and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/t\/taylomi02.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-07-25_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Michael A. Taylor<\/a> (.198\/.259\/.271) isn\u2019t cutting it.<\/p>\n<h3>Why the Pirates Shouldn&#8217;t Get Pham<\/h3>\n<p>Pham hasn\u2019t graded well as a center fielder since 2017. In the outfield in 2024, he\u2019s been charged with -6 Fielding Runs Above Average and -12 Defensive Runs Saved. The Pirates would likely be looking at him as a corner outfielder. As such, he doesn\u2019t move the needle much, if at all. Pham wouldn\u2019t be a significant upgrade over <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/j\/joeco01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-07-25_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Connor Joe<\/a>, a right-handed-hitting outfielder who\u2019s batting .243\/.328\/.389, 7 HR, 30 RBI, and 104 OPS+. Moreover, the Pirates have also been connected to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/w\/wardta01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-07-25_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Taylor Ward<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/c\/chishja01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-07-25_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jazz Chisholm Jr.<\/a>, who each hit for more power and play center field better than Pham.<\/p>\n<p>Pham began his career with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2014. With St. Louis, he hit .271\/.365\/.463 until he was traded to the Tampa Bay Rays in the middle of the 2018 season. As a Ray, he hit .287\/.385\/.485 before they traded him after the 2019 season. There\u2019s an old baseball axiom to the effect that if the Cardinals or Rays come calling to unload a player, hang up the phone. Or, if that\u2019s not an actual baseball axiom, it should be. Since 2020, Pham has been in a state of decline. In typical fashion, he has yet to be as good as he was on those two teams. From 2020 to the present, he\u2019s hitting .242\/.326\/.390. His OPS+ over that period is 99, indicating just average production.<\/p>\n<p>He&#8217;s been declining during 2024 as well. On May 23, Pham was hitting .333\/.377\/.495, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/05\/23\/meteoric-rise-pham-white-sox\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">his high<\/a> for the season. Thereafter, he\u2019s batting .219\/.305\/.303.<\/p>\n<p>One can\u2019t discount the intangibles Pham would bring to the table. On the other hand, the Pirates already have several veterans, some with postseason experience. How much veteran leadership do they need?<\/p>\n<h3>The Last Word<\/h3>\n<p>Perhaps Pham\u2019s anemic numbers since May 24 are indicative of the wear and tear of playing for a terrible team and he might be rejuvenated by coming to a team involved in a race to the postseason. But why should the Pirates bank on that? The more one dives into it, the more it looks like a \u201clet\u2019s make a trade for the sake of making a trade\u201d scenario. It seems Pham should be the Pirates\u2019 backup plan should they fail to land <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/07\/20\/pirates-inquired-jazz-chisholm\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Chisholm<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/07\/10\/pirates-trade-angels-taylor-ward\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Ward<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Photo Credit: \u00a9 Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Pittsburgh Pirates are rumored to be making a pitch for well-traveled Chicago White Sox outfielder Tommy Pham. If the Pirates successfully pull off a deal for Pham, they would be the ninth stop for the 11-year veteran. Rumor: Pirates in on White Sox Outfielder Tommy Pham After being part of an Arizona Diamondbacks team [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5010,"featured_media":81264,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26,1071],"tags":[1374,28245,4535,5720,5149,6391,6136,1087,351],"class_list":["post-81253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pirates","category-mlb","tag-bryan-reynolds","tag-chicago-white-sox","tag-connor-joe","tag-jack-suwinski","tag-jazz-chisholm-jr","tag-luis-robert-jr","tag-michael-a-taylor","tag-tommy-pham","tag-world-series"],"modified_by":"Lewis Masella, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5010"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}