Tommy Pham

[LouisEly]

Can Tommy Pham still play a passable CF?  He played 91 innings for SDP last year, and has played >1600 innings at CF in his career.  Not a world beater, but won't cost a lot in terms of salary ($6M in 2022 plus $6M/$1.5M buyout in 2023) or prospects and will still be a big upgrade over Cain offensively.   At 34 he has no business on the Reds.

If the Brewers can't add a lot of payroll, he seems like one of the better OF options available.

[nate82]

29 minutes ago, LouisEly said:

Can Tommy Pham still play a passable CF?  He played 91 innings for SDP last year, and has played >1600 innings at CF in his career.  Not a world beater, but won't cost a lot in terms of salary ($6M in 2022 plus $6M/$1.5M buyout in 2023) or prospects and will still be a big upgrade over Cain offensively.   At 34 he has no business on the Reds.

If the Brewers can't add a lot of payroll, he seems like one of the better OF options available.

He has always been a negative defensively.  I don't see why you would want him anywhere near CF let alone LF or RF.  

[nate82]

Today's game is a perfect example of why you don't want Pham in the OF he is absolutely horrible.  

[trwi7]

Don't want somebody who takes fantasy football that seriously.

[homer]

Pham would be a decent DH. His statcast numbers are really good and he walks a ton. Doesn't really have the positional flexibility Stearns usually looks for.

[homer]

1 hour ago, trwi7 said:

Don't want somebody who takes fantasy football that seriously.

I consider that a plus

[Underachiever]

I tolerate Kolten Wong. I put up with Kyle Lohse. I hated Jeff Suppan. Bottom line, my ability to root for former Cardinals in a Brewer uniform is extremely limited. Some things don't wash off that easily.

I guess if they wanted to throw Arenado our way I would feel a little better.

[brewers888]

Would have been a far better sign than McCutchen. 

[Brock Beauchamp]

After Effectively Wild did a short bit on the history of Pham's lunacy, hard pass on him.

[Jopal78]

The Reds will definitely be sellers, and if Pham continues to produce he will be a nice asset for them to sell off. If the Brewers stay in the hunt, he would actually be a pretty good fit for their lineup. His current OPS of .781 would place him 2nd on the Brewers and his OPS+ of 109 would place him 4th on the Brewers ahead of Yelich, Wong, Cutch, Taylor, Urias etc.  No real difference in his splits between RHP and LHP, Milwaukee could plug him in as the primary DH, and move McCutchen to a 4th OF spot. 

The only drawback is Pham has hit much better at GABP than on the road this season.  Moreover, its about winning games, any nuttiness from Pham would likely be overshadowed by the hunt for the playoffs, and he'd be on to a different club next year anyhow.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

1 hour ago, brewers888 said:

Would have been a far better sign than McCutchen. 

Ah yes, because it's definitely a given that he'd be putting up that same scantly above average .781 OPS in a Brewers uniform.

[brewers888]

28 minutes ago, Ron Robinsons Beard said:

Ah yes, because it's definitely a given that he'd be putting up that same scantly above average .781 OPS in a Brewers uniform.

I don't think that Pham is anything special but he is better than McCutchen and because he isn't a big name former star Counsell would probably have no problem benching him while McCutchen plays pretty much every day no matter how bad he is.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

4 minutes ago, brewers888 said:

I don't think that Pham is anything special but he is better than McCutchen and because he isn't a big name former star Counsell would probably have no problem benching him while McCutchen plays pretty much every day no matter how bad he is.

When your main DH choices are McCutchen's anemic offense, or Hiura's near 50% K rate, there isn't much that can be done. I fully expect at least another bat to be brought in at some point if this team truly has playoff aspirations. 

[brewers888]

7 minutes ago, Ron Robinsons Beard said:

When your main DH choices are McCutchen's anemic offense, or Hiura's near 50% K rate, there isn't much that can be done. I fully expect at least another bat to be brought in at some point if this team truly has playoff aspirations. 

Even with the high strikeout rate Hiiura has shown he can hit righties yet never starts against them while McCutchen hasn't hit righties in years yet seems locked in at the cleanup spot against them.

[brewers888]

With little to no financial flexibility as evidenced by the owner saying we went overbudget for McCutchen you would think Pham is about the type of upgrade we can make and I doubt he moves the needle all that much anyway. Even if we were to acquire him or someone even better I doubt McCutchen loses many at bats and that is a big problem. 

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

3 minutes ago, brewers888 said:

Even with the high strikeout rate Hiiura has shown he can hit righties yet never starts against them while McCutchen hasn't hit righties in years yet seems locked in at the cleanup spot against them.

Hiura manages to run into one once in a while, but it's extremely hard to justify striking out at a 50% clip, especially in a lineup full of free swingers. Cutch surely doesn't bring a lot to the table offensively any longer, but at least his 20% K rate is substantially more palatable than Hiura's.

[nate82]

Almora is a better option if the Brewers were to trade for someone from the Reds.  

[Jopal78]

21 hours ago, nate82 said:

Almora is a better option if the Brewers were to trade for someone from the Reds.  

Don't confuse a hot streak for something its not.

Admittedly, Albert Almora has 120 PAs this year slightly above average results. However, his stat line in the 1282 MLB PAs before this year: .274/.311/.403. In other words he's Tyrone Taylor with slightly less power, which is also why he's taken non-roster minor league deals the last two years first with the Mets and now with the Reds.

[Outlander]

22 hours ago, Ron Robinsons Beard said:

Hiura manages to run into one once in a while, but it's extremely hard to justify striking out at a 50% clip, especially in a lineup full of free swingers. Cutch surely doesn't bring a lot to the table offensively any longer, but at least his 20% K rate is substantially more palatable than Hiura's.

It really isn't hard to justify playing a guy with a 400 OBP and 600 slugging, it's pretty easy actually.

[Jopal78]

32 minutes ago, Outlander said:

It really isn't hard to justify playing a guy with a 400 OBP and 600 slugging, it's pretty easy actually.

Yep, and when 5 of 13 hits go over the fence hitting numbers will look great. Maybe he sold his soul to the devil to get a little Babe Ruth's mojo, otherwise he's not going to continue having 38% of his hits go for homers all year long.

Hiura has K'd in 43% of his PAs against RHP, we can be sure, given his career numbers, that ratio will most likely continue all year long. 

The manager was just talking about how they had 13 outs last night to get something going against the Cardinals pen and didn't. With Hiura playing its like having 11- 12 because of his inability to put the ball in play. 

[timpep]

I don't get the Hiura hate. He's got a 106 ops+ and makes peanuts. He's not even on my radar of team problems. 

[Jopal78]

1 hour ago, timpep said:

I don't get the Hiura hate. He's got a 106 ops+ and makes peanuts. He's not even on my radar of team problems. 

Yep, you can find a stat to say just about anything.

In June Hiura also has struck out 22 times in 39 PAs, he has 5 hits and 4 walks with a homerun and a double (.147/.230/.272)

It's definitely not hate, he's just another crappy hitter on a team full of them. 

 

[Underachiever]

Hiura gave us a taste in 2019. We assume that players will make jumps, especially when we saw their talent with our own eyes. We thought the Brewers had a player with an excellent bat that would allow us to overlook defensive deficiencies, for a few critical, cost-controlled years. Now we have a high-strikeout guy who is below average with the glove. I believe that in an organization that is starved of home-grown bats, Hiura's failure has been one of the biggest setbacks in trying to build a lineup. In fact, he has been so bad we now have a thread to consider whether Tommy Pham is a legit trade target!

[Underachiever]

On 6/23/2022 at 10:14 AM, Outlander said:

It really isn't hard to justify playing a guy with a 400 OBP and 600 slugging, it's pretty easy actually.

I am really confused as to whom you are referring with that statement. 

[JohnBriggs12]

The type of bats who will be available at the deadline are pretty much the same level of players that the Brewers already have.  Guys like Pham or a David Peralta are decent players but not upgrades.  The problem with the Brewer lineup isn't that it doesn't have capable hitters up and down the lineup.  The problem is they don't have any premium hitters and it's hard to be serious contenders without one or two premium bats.