1 hour ago, Chicago White Sox said:

I don’t get this move at all. Pham hasn’t been above average against LHP since 2023 and is now 38 years old. He is also a below average defensive OF and has lost a lot of his speed. What does he bring to the table exactly?

More importantly, whose roster spot is he taking? It’s pretty wild that we gave away Hill, Periera, & Hays for nothing and now are rolling the dice an old, likely broken player. And yes, broken could also probably describe Hays and maybe even Periera to some extent, although Everson at least killed LHP when healthy.

Perez probably gets DFA'd so that would be the 40-man move.

Edited yesterday at 12:58 PM1 day by Bob Sacamano

1 hour ago, Chicago White Sox said:

I don’t get this move at all. Pham hasn’t been above average against LHP since 2023 and is now 38 years old. He is also a below average defensive OF and has lost a lot of his speed. What does he bring to the table exactly?

More importantly, whose roster spot is he taking? It’s pretty wild that we gave away Hill, Periera, & Hays for nothing and now are rolling the dice an old, likely broken player. And yes, broken could also probably describe Hays and maybe even Periera to some extent, although Everson at least killed LHP when healthy.

We all know that players choke occasionally; can GM's choke, too?

1 hour ago, Chicago White Sox said:

I don’t get this move at all. Pham hasn’t been above average against LHP since 2023 and is now 38 years old. He is also a below average defensive OF and has lost a lot of his speed. What does he bring to the table exactly?

More importantly, whose roster spot is he taking? It’s pretty wild that we gave away Hill, Periera, & Hays for nothing and now are rolling the dice an old, likely broken player. And yes, broken could also probably describe Hays and maybe even Periera to some extent, although Everson at least killed LHP when healthy.

Don’t try to use this kind of logic around these parts. Yes, Getz dumped three better outfielders to wind up with old man Pham for the playoff run. The same Pham that apparently wasn’t good enough for three other teams to retain this season in the Mets, Orioles, and Phillies.

Last night’s broadcast provided the answer — Venable likely requested Pham’s acquisition because he liked him in 2022 when he was the hitting coach for Boston. He must have been impressed by the -0.3 bWAR that Pham put up for Boston in the second half of that season.

The Castillo and Pham acquisitions appear to provide further proof that Getz thinks that he can strike gold for a few months to a year with aging players nearing retirement, similar to the old Kenny and Hahn strategy that usually failed.

Edited yesterday at 01:26 PM1 day by WhiteSox2023

12 hours ago, ron883 said:

Schriff is saying how great of a clubhouse leader Pham is. Isn't he generally regarded as being a pain in the ass?

I'll let this Reddit post sum it up

4 minutes ago, Quin said:

I'll let this Reddit post sum it up

Who wouldn’t want this veteran leader on their team?!?

2 hours ago, Chicago White Sox said:

I don’t get this move at all. Pham hasn’t been above average against LHP since 2023 and is now 38 years old. He is also a below average defensive OF and has lost a lot of his speed. What does he bring to the table exactly?

More importantly, whose roster spot is he taking? It’s pretty wild that we gave away Hill, Periera, & Hays for nothing and now are rolling the dice an old, likely broken player. And yes, broken could also probably describe Hays and maybe even Periera to some extent, although Everson at least killed LHP when healthy.

Even Dustin Harris has been around a .300 hitter with the Padres during the last couple of weeks.

Lost him as well.

Does anyone realistically imagine Pham hitting anywhere close to that?

32 minutes ago, ron883 said:

#1 water carrier

1 hour ago, ron883 said:

I don’t even think he’s fit on a playoff roster. Only so few spots.

I feel like this move has way too much oxygen here and people are making way too many grand statements about its importance and meaning. Tommy Pham isn’t coming here to displace a starting outfielder for the final month. He is a bat and occasionally a glove at the end of the bench. Yes, I would rather rewind time and have Derek hill all season. No, that will not happen.

34 minutes ago, Quin said:

#1 water carrier

I mean that’s literally his job why is this controversial

1 minute ago, Kyyle23 said:

I feel like this move has way too much oxygen here and people are making way too many grand statements about its importance and meaning. Tommy Pham isn’t coming here to displace a starting outfielder for the final month. He is a bat and occasionally a glove at the end of the bench. Yes, I would rather rewind time and have Derek hill all season. No, that will not happen.

He’s replacing one of the starters vs LHP (which needs to happen)

1 minute ago, fathom said:

He’s replacing one of the starters vs LHP (which needs to happen)

He is a sub maybe once or twice a week. Maybe. It’s incredible to read the hand wringing

4 minutes ago, Kyyle23 said:

I mean that’s literally his job why is this controversial

I guess Ozzie plays bad cop, but Chuck has no issue throwing tons of players under the bus while singing the praises of Hanser Alberto.

That one is always gonna stick with me.

anti-jinx thread

Edited yesterday at 02:44 PM1 day by nrockway

8 minutes ago, fathom said:

He’s replacing one of the starters vs LHP (which needs to happen)

https://www.espn.com/mlb/player/splits/_/id/31208/year/2024/category/batting

Just a 651 and 674 ops against lhp in 2025 and 2024...

787 three years ago.

About the same time Luis Castillo was good or at least decent, fwiw.

Edited yesterday at 02:50 PM1 day by caulfield12

7 minutes ago, Kyyle23 said:

He is a sub maybe once or twice a week. Maybe. It’s incredible to read the hand wringing

By sub do you mean PH or being a platoon guy?

Antonacci Mune Braden Peters and Colson have all had their troubles with lefties.

Just not so sure that this is the best possible solution.

The cheapest, sure.

31 minutes ago, fathom said:

By sub do you mean PH or being a platoon guy?

Little of both. I’m not concerned about him. At all

2 hours ago, WhiteSox2023 said:

Don’t try to use this kind of logic around these parts. Yes, Getz dumped three better outfielders to wind up with old man Pham for the playoff run. The same Pham that apparently wasn’t good enough for three other teams to retain this season in the Mets, Orioles, and Phillies.

Last night’s broadcast provided the answer — Venable likely requested Pham’s acquisition because he liked him in 2022 when he was the hitting coach for Boston. He must have been impressed by the -0.3 bWAR that Pham put up for Boston in the second half of that season.

The Castillo and Pham acquisitions appear to provide further proof that Getz thinks that he can strike gold for a few months to a year with aging players nearing retirement, similar to the old Kenny and Hahn strategy that usually failed.

Don't try to use that logic? why? Because somebody might disagree with you?!? LOL. Dude, grow a pair.

I mean, it's fun making s%*# up. "He's old, and he's broken. He can't even play baseball anymore. We got rid of Hill for nothing."

This all leads me to believe that picking up Pham is a great move. I mean, if it wasn't, y'all could just lay out why it isn't without just making things up. By your logic, every player who gets traded is worthless because another team didn't want him. That Juan Soto apparently wasn't good enough for three other teams to keep him. Bum.

But seriously, I've never seen a group of grown men kneel down on the ground and weep over such an insignificant move. Maybe Venable sees the team getting distracted in a slump and wants a serious dude to set an example or something. Now go ahead and clown on that, everyone, because "he's old" and "The Mets didn't keep him for this pennant clinching stretch" are such strong arguments.

45 minutes ago, caulfield12 said:

Antonacci Mune Braden Peters and Colson have all had their troubles with lefties.

Just not so sure that this is the best possible solution.

The cheapest, sure.

So what is the best possible solution?

15 minutes ago, WestEddy said:

Don't try to use that logic? why? Because somebody might disagree with you?!? LOL. Dude, grow a pair.

I mean, it's fun making s%*# up. "He's old, and he's broken. He can't even play baseball anymore. We got rid of Hill for nothing."

This all leads me to believe that picking up Pham is a great move. I mean, if it wasn't, y'all could just lay out why it isn't without just making things up. By your logic, every player who gets traded is worthless because another team didn't want him. That Juan Soto apparently wasn't good enough for three other teams to keep him. Bum.

But seriously, I've never seen a group of grown men kneel down on the ground and weep over such an insignificant move. Maybe Venable sees the team getting distracted in a slump and wants a serious dude to set an example or something. Now go ahead and clown on that, everyone, because "he's old" and "The Mets didn't keep him for this pennant clinching stretch" are such strong arguments.

Just a 651 and 674 ops against lhp in 2025 and 2024...almost nothing this year at the big league level.

It's about like expecting Benintendi to return to 2021 Gold Glove form...or Luis Castillo as a Red.

It could happen.

Sure.

But likely?

But I guess we should all celebrate that at least it's not Clevinger, Urias or Bauer.

Edited yesterday at 03:55 PM1 day by caulfield12

20 minutes ago, WestEddy said:

So what is the best possible solution?

https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders/splits-leaderboards?position=B&splitArr=1&startDate=2026-03-01&endDate=2026-11-30

Almost had to laugh.

Andrew Vaughn #1 against lhp and Jake McCarthy Top 30.

Meidroth and ofc Grichuk up there, too.

Braden M. Sheets Murakami Bazzana most assuredly are not...

Edited yesterday at 04:04 PM1 day by caulfield12

1 hour ago, Kyyle23 said:

He is a sub maybe once or twice a week. Maybe. It’s incredible to read the hand wringing

The role makes sense. He’s been below average against LHP the last two years though, so just questioning the fit.

1 minute ago, Chicago White Sox said:

The role makes sense. He’s been below average against LHP the last two years though, so just questioning the fit.

Do you think this role will end up being extremely consequential?