Tommy Pham Signing Personifies Pirates’ Embarrassing Offense
In 2024, the Pittsburgh Pirates’ offense set a franchise record for most strikeouts in a season, which led to the firing of hitting coach Andy Haines.
Presumably on the hot seat, general manager Ben Cherington had to go into this past offseason looking to make significant upgrades to the offense.
The first notable move was at the Winter Meetings, when Cherington dealt pitchers Luis Ortiz, Michael Kennedy, and Josh Hartle, in order to acquire first baseman Spencer Horwitz from the Cleveland Guardians. Considered Pittsburgh’s best offseason addition, Horwitz has yet to even suit up with the Pirates, and is currently on rehab assignment.
Aside from first base, corner outfield was another spot that needed to be addressed. This came in the form of 37-year-old Tommy Pham, who signed with the Bucs for $4 million.
Entering the first week of May, the Pirates currently have the second worst team OPS in the National League at .644. Pham has been a microcosm of their offensive woes.
The numbers offensively for Pham tell a bleak story to this point.
Literally the only redeeming quality with Pham at the plate is not chasing pitches. But despite that positive attribute, both the contact and power figures are extremely poor. Pham’s 37.9% hard hit rate is on track to be the worst of his career. He’s also really struggling against left-handed pitching; slashing .208/.240/.208, with no extra-base hits. Among qualified NL players, Pham has the lowest wRC+ at 28.
Even with the surprisingly, good defense from Pham (+6 Defensive Runs Saved), he’s still been a replacement level player overall (-0.1 bWAR).
Objectively, the Pham signing is not only the most pathetic by the Pirates last offseason, but you can make a sound argument that it was the worst free agent signing of the entire MLB offseason as a whole.
At a time when the Pirates have one of the strongest farm systems, in terms of pitching prospect talent, the initiative should have been to deal from strength by trading an upside arm, to acquire a controllable, impact corner outfield bat for the lineup. But instead, Cherington opted to go the weakest route; bringing in a washed up version of Pham. It’s a decision that no doubt has affected the Pirates’ offense immensely, and one which will likely cost Cherington and Derek Shelton their jobs.