The Minnesota Twins had a chance to add Tommy Pham, but the veteran outfielder wound up landing with the Chicago White Sox instead.
On Monday, the Philadelphia Phillies dealt Pham, a 13-year MLB veteran, to Chicago for cash considerations, and the White Sox selected his contract after the move. Before that trade went through, the Twins had shown interest in Pham, according to the New York Post’s Jon Heyman.
Minnesota’s thinking, if it had gone further, likely would have been pretty straightforward. With Austin Martin injured, Pham would have fit as a right-handed platoon option alongside Trevor Larnach. Pham, 38, brings plenty of major league experience, but the fit never materialized.
He has played in only nine MLB games this season. Pham began the year on a minor-league deal with the Mets, had his contract selected in mid-April, and was designated for assignment two weeks later. He then spent time in the Orioles’ minor-league system before signing another minor-league deal with Philadelphia in late June, though he never got back to the majors with either Baltimore or the Phillies.
Pham’s path through the league has been a long one. He debuted with the St.
Louis Cardinals in 2014, was traded to the Tampa Bay Rays at the 2018 deadline, and stayed with Tampa Bay through the 2019 season. Since then, he has bounced around to the Padres, Reds, Red Sox, Mets, Diamondbacks, White Sox, Cardinals, Royals and Pirates.
In 1,250 career games, he owns an 18.3 bWAR, a .256/.344/.421 slash line, 149 home runs and 522 RBI.
From Minnesota’s perspective, passing on Pham may have been the safer call. His last above-average season at the plate came in 2023 with the Mets and Diamondbacks, and he followed that with a 0.9 bWAR, .700 OPS season over 120 games with Pittsburgh last year.
The Twins also may be better served giving Gabriel Gonzalez and Ben Ross those platoon chances instead. Pham has the more established track record, but Gonzalez and Ross offer more upside, and the organization would benefit from getting both prospects some big-league reps.
There’s also the matter of Pham’s reputation for stirring things up. In 2022, while with the Reds, he was suspended three games after slapping Joc Pederson on the cheek over a text Pederson had sent in a fantasy football group chat.
More recently, Pham was involved in a long, heated argument with Reds outfielder Dane Myers on X over defensive metrics. That doesn’t make him a bad person, but it does underline why some teams might think twice.
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