I don’t need to say too much about how bad Tommy Pham’s tenure has been with the Pittsburgh Pirates. The numbers at the plate thus far are bad enough, not to mention the additional antics that come with the Pham experience, which was displayed recently in Anaheim.
When Pham was first signed, it made no sense for many reasons. First, the Pirates already had their older and still productive veteran clubhouse leader in Andrew McCutchen. While Pham has a reputation for holding people accountable and taking the game seriously, he isn’t known as a “good clubhouse guy.” Although there have been some outliers over the years, this is out of character for the Pirates organization, as fans are used to watching players who are great teammates and leaders but don’t produce on the field.
At 37 years old, his numbers at the plate declined significantly with three different teams in 2024, and even at his best in recent years, there wasn’t much of a chance that he would provide the necessary juice that this Pirates lineup needed. No one wanted him last offseason, as he could only sign a Minor League deal with one of the worst teams baseball has seen in some years – the Chicago White Sox.
Pham was probably worth half of the $4 million the Pirates gave him, and whether he was worthy of a Major League contract was also questionable. On the Bob Nutting budget, $4 million is a horrific risk that Cherington couldn’t afford.
The signing of Pham just adds to a damning list of free agents that Ben Cherington, with limited resources of course, have added over the last few years and were overvalued. When you’re the General Manager of an organization like the Pirates, it’s all about finding value in players under the radar, and the on-field product of these guys often failed to break even and never turned out to be solid bargains.
When judging Cherington’s free agency moves, specifically his consistent failure to upgrade the offense, the question that’s often asked is: Did he have better options? Or is he completely handcuffed by ownership? It’s a debate that has existed since 2007 (and probably before Nutting) and will continue with the next GM and the GM after him.
There is no definitive answer, but Cherington’s constant failures to improve the offense through free agency, drafting, and development don’t allow me to give him the benefit of the doubt. In the case of Pham, there were undoubtedly better options.
In my opinion, the Pirates needed two outfielders this offseason, but with their belief in Jack Suwinski and others, that didn’t seem to be in the cards. Imagine if the Pirates had gotten one of, if not both, Alex Verdugo, currently with Atlanta, and Austin Hays, currently with the Reds. Verdugo and Hays would make a great lefty-righty platoon in left field, although the Pirates would’ve probably needed to find ways to fit them both in the lineup if they wanted to have an above-average offense at any point. But one of them over Pham would’ve still been a bonus. Their contracts are worth $6.5 million combined, only $2.5 million more than the Pirates paid Pham.
Alex Verdugo was arguably the most undervalued hitter this offseason. He has always been productive, and at just 28 years old with a high-level swing, he was bound to bounce back after career lows with the Yankees last year. It shocked me when he only got a Minor League deal with the Braves – one of the best organizations in baseball, of course – for $1.5 million. The Braves are reaping the benefits after Verdugo had a late Spring Training in the Minors and came up in time to fill the void of the now-suspended Jurickson Profar.
Austin Hays is more complicated because his worst ability since 2024 has been his availability. Hays had three productive years in Baltimore and was an All-Star in 2023 before the injury bug caught him and stayed with him as he was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies at last year’s trade deadline. Terry Francona’s Reds signed the 29-year-old for $5 million.
Verdugo is hitting .322 and has more hits than Tommy Pham in just under half the number of games played. This can also be said for Hays, who continues to deal with injuries but is hitting .326 in 13 games with Cincinnati.
I am not stating that this team would be a contender if the outfield situation were handled differently. But it shows that this organization can no longer afford Cherington’s incompetence, and not for another MLB Draft either. The overarching issue is that ownership has no baseball feel to hire the right people, which puts this team in a constant loop of failure.