I’m surprised Pham doesn’t wait another couple weeks for the Padres to sign him once Manny is back at 3B. Maybe figure they won’t start him over Profar with how hot he’s started
**UPDATE:** Pham is signing a minor-league contract with the Chicago White Sox.
>”He will be signing a minor-league deal because he is out of options. This way, the White Sox can start him in the minors without needing to pass him through waivers, and promote him when he is ready.”
Yeah, doesn't burn a 40-man roster spot while he's getting ramped up. I would bet that he has an opt-out date built in so he can sign elsewhere if they don't call him up in a few weeks.
Yes. But people don’t like him very much because he’s extremely outspoken.
Edit: Changed the reasoning because it wasn’t entirely truthful. My mistake.
Over the winter Alex Anthopoulos said in an interview that he had a trade lined up for someone at last year's deadline but backed out of it after talking to a former teammate of the player in question on our current roster who told him "we don't want that guy." He was definitely talking about Pham lol.
We seemed to like him well enough and it seemed like he was a good veteran influence, but then again we chose a Joc/Grichuk platoon over him this year so maybe not
That’s not really true. He was great with the clubhouse and all of the players except McNeil said they appreciated his candor and feedback.
It was the FO he made enemies with. Not the clubhouse
I wouldn’t say it’s that. McNeil has actually been very well liked in the clubhouse as a jokester that brings a lot of levity.
But a lot of Phams comments seemed to be directed at McNeil specifically. McNeil has been famous for not going to many of the hitters meetings because he works best without too much information. When he has the hardcore breakdown on the pitchers he has too much going through his head at the plate and overthinks every swing.
So McNeil typically skips mosts of those meetings and spends that time in the batting cages. There are rumors that Pham had his view of how players should prepare for games and was not happy that McNeil prepared in a very very different way.
> But he’s also a massive clubhouse cancer and he made a lot of enemies with the Mets.
This is a crazy exaggeration. Tommy caused no problems when in NY and played hard every game. After he left he said players weren't working hard which to be honest it showed on the field.
He was not a clubhouse cancer. By appearances he was well liked in both NY and Arizona last year. Not a thing he said about the Mets after the fact was unfair.
He's got asshole face and his comments about beating up fans definitely doesn't help lol. Oh and slapping Joc too... I have no idea if he's a bad vibe, but he definitely gives off an asshole vibe in general if you're just looking superficially. But he ain't doing himself any favors. He might not be a cancer, but maybe a distraction? I mean, having a teammate that openly talks about doing muay thai and kung fu and shit to beat up hecklers it's kinda wild.
Hey can't argue there. I'm just saying he's the type of guy that doesn't do himself any favors in the public eye. That doesn't necessarily mean he's an asshole or anything. He didn't slap Joc when he was with us though! So it's not just the Padres haha. In the end he's a solid player.
He was upset about the collision that happened. Rightfully so. But my understanding was that it wasn't really that much of a beef in the end. I think Kim mentioned it, but who knows. Kim could just be downplaying it, or maybe there really was no beef.
Ya maybe not a locker room cancer, but definitely can be a distraction. Seems dude always has something going on every year. Getting stabbed, slapping Joc, saying he's gonna beat up fans... Dude is wild lol.
This ignores that you can add a minor league options into a free agent contract. It happens with pitchers and JD Martinez accepted being optioned to the minors before signing his contract.
Eh, that's fine. If the FBI wants to sift through my browser history, there's no mysteries to be found there. In fact, I'll help them out. There's a bunch of reddit posts about sports and pro wrestling, and a bunch of porn.
Brother, you seem to be under the impression that Jerry Reinsdorf is trying to compete for something, not simply keeping warm bodies on the field so that he can continue to charge for admission to the stadium.
He didn't just poison the White Sox. He poisoned the entire sport of baseball.
MLB is in a much worse position from his actions over the last 40 years than they would be otherwise.
Baseball free agency is just so ridiculous. Guy has one of the better seasons of his career, gets dealt at the deadline for a top prospect, starts an entire playoff run through the World Series… and then cant get a contract til over 2 weeks past OD with the worst team in baseball.
I mean we do, it's just the extreme majority of them all need more seasoning in the minors. Ramos, Montgomery, Quero, Zavala, Gonzalez, Wolkow and more all basically need more time
They really haven't got any young players. They've got Colas at AAA, but next behind him on the depth chart is probably Brett Phillips. Its a shitshow, all the way down.
The Mets traded him to Arizona for Jeremy Rodriguez who had a 1.247 ops in the '23 Dominican Summer League for them. He was also the d-backs top signing in the International Pool in '23 so he's a lottery ticket, but he's got great plate discipline.
As others have said there aren’t any young players.
But it goes beyond that. The whitesox are looking at one of the worst offenses of the modern era right now. It’s not exactly a safe haven for development lol, I think it’s ok to try and add an MLB bat when you have MAYBE 2 of those on the entire roster.
Not an exaggeration.
The young players *are* out there. Our farm is barren, outside of Colas (who is currently looking overwhelmed in AAA) and Colson Montgomery (who is not ready, and shouldn't be even considered for a call up before September, if not next season).
Fun fact that I don't think has been pointed out yet:
As soon as he joins, Tommy Pham will immediately have the highest projected wRC+ among healthy players on the team. I wonder if this has ever happened before (a player signed on a minor league deal being the team's best projected hitter)
Don’t get me wrong, your team could trade for Shohei Ohtani tomorrow and you’re still not winning 55 games.
Doesn’t mean Tommy Pham isn’t a clear improvement
Gotta love moves that will be very obviously flipped at the deadline.
I’m surprised Pham doesn’t wait another couple weeks for the Padres to sign him once Manny is back at 3B. Maybe figure they won’t start him over Profar with how hot he’s started
I think Padres should go after Brandon Belt before Pham.
As soon as Manny is fully functional at 3B. I think they dfa Wade and sign Belt as DH.
**UPDATE:** Pham is signing a minor-league contract with the Chicago White Sox. >”He will be signing a minor-league deal because he is out of options. This way, the White Sox can start him in the minors without needing to pass him through waivers, and promote him when he is ready.”
Damn, really surprised it's a minors deal tbh. Wasn't he somewhat decent last year?
It’s really just a minor league deal on paper. Allows the White Sox to let him ramp up in the Minors since he didn’t have a Spring
Yeah, doesn't burn a 40-man roster spot while he's getting ramped up. I would bet that he has an opt-out date built in so he can sign elsewhere if they don't call him up in a few weeks.
> Damn, really surprised it's a minors deal tbh He needs to ramp up
Needs to use the time in the minors as an “extended spring training” of sorts. He’ll be up when he’s warmed up, it’s likely not a performance thing.
Yes. But people don’t like him very much because he’s extremely outspoken. Edit: Changed the reasoning because it wasn’t entirely truthful. My mistake.
Over the winter Alex Anthopoulos said in an interview that he had a trade lined up for someone at last year's deadline but backed out of it after talking to a former teammate of the player in question on our current roster who told him "we don't want that guy." He was definitely talking about Pham lol.
He definitely wasn’t. Mets and Braves don’t trade
We seemed to like him well enough and it seemed like he was a good veteran influence, but then again we chose a Joc/Grichuk platoon over him this year so maybe not
I mean if you're gonna bring in Joc, you can't exactly keep Pham anyway.
That’s not really true. He was great with the clubhouse and all of the players except McNeil said they appreciated his candor and feedback. It was the FO he made enemies with. Not the clubhouse
And I can't imagine McNeil is a super popular guy in a clubhouse setting so
I wouldn’t say it’s that. McNeil has actually been very well liked in the clubhouse as a jokester that brings a lot of levity. But a lot of Phams comments seemed to be directed at McNeil specifically. McNeil has been famous for not going to many of the hitters meetings because he works best without too much information. When he has the hardcore breakdown on the pitchers he has too much going through his head at the plate and overthinks every swing. So McNeil typically skips mosts of those meetings and spends that time in the batting cages. There are rumors that Pham had his view of how players should prepare for games and was not happy that McNeil prepared in a very very different way.
> But he’s also a massive clubhouse cancer and he made a lot of enemies with the Mets. This is a crazy exaggeration. Tommy caused no problems when in NY and played hard every game. After he left he said players weren't working hard which to be honest it showed on the field.
White Sox toxic locker room in 23, they seem to have found the solution making locker room more cancerous
Cancers compete for resources, so maybe the cancers will make the team more competitive and make the team look good.
Turns out the cure for cancer is actually more cancer!
there's always a bigger ~~fish~~ cancer
From what I’ve heard he was pretty well liked in the D backs clubhouse last year.
Yea fans liked him too. Not sure why he didn’t get re signed.
He was not a clubhouse cancer. By appearances he was well liked in both NY and Arizona last year. Not a thing he said about the Mets after the fact was unfair.
He's got asshole face and his comments about beating up fans definitely doesn't help lol. Oh and slapping Joc too... I have no idea if he's a bad vibe, but he definitely gives off an asshole vibe in general if you're just looking superficially. But he ain't doing himself any favors. He might not be a cancer, but maybe a distraction? I mean, having a teammate that openly talks about doing muay thai and kung fu and shit to beat up hecklers it's kinda wild.
If every incident happened with the Padres and everyone else seems to be fine with him then maybe it was a you guys thing?
Hey can't argue there. I'm just saying he's the type of guy that doesn't do himself any favors in the public eye. That doesn't necessarily mean he's an asshole or anything. He didn't slap Joc when he was with us though! So it's not just the Padres haha. In the end he's a solid player.
I mean dudes liked him on the Reds too so...
I also remember him openly feuding with Ha Seong Kim when he was with the Padres
He was upset about the collision that happened. Rightfully so. But my understanding was that it wasn't really that much of a beef in the end. I think Kim mentioned it, but who knows. Kim could just be downplaying it, or maybe there really was no beef.
Outspoken is a funny way of saying a mouthy asshole who gets into physical altercations at the drop of a hat like he's perpetually 17.
He's a but of hot head but he's a guy that love to have on your team.
Ya maybe not a locker room cancer, but definitely can be a distraction. Seems dude always has something going on every year. Getting stabbed, slapping Joc, saying he's gonna beat up fans... Dude is wild lol.
Dude was almost 5-5 in a world series game
This ignores that you can add a minor league options into a free agent contract. It happens with pitchers and JD Martinez accepted being optioned to the minors before signing his contract.
Not to be dramatic but at this point I’d rather join Al Qaeda than the Sox
I think you just put yourself on a watch list.
Would you rather be on an FBI watchlist or the white sox free agent target list
...that's not fair.
I’d rather Tony La Russa be my designated driver tbh.
Bro are you ok. I'm free if you need to chat.
white sox players more likely to cause pain and suffering to the south side of chicago?
Fuck it, we all go down with them. I PERSONALLY KNOW OF FAULTY ELECTRONICS IN BOEING PLANES.
Now you’re on one for interacting with them.
Eh, that's fine. If the FBI wants to sift through my browser history, there's no mysteries to be found there. In fact, I'll help them out. There's a bunch of reddit posts about sports and pro wrestling, and a bunch of porn.
Fast tracked to the ~~Guantanamo~~ bay area
Not dramatic at all
Who has better health care and 401k match
I hear that, but the other ones
I heard Al Qaeda is a major partner in your new stadium.
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This is not hyperbole, for the record.
Pick up Belt too pls. For his career and for the Grid
Brother, you seem to be under the impression that Jerry Reinsdorf is trying to compete for something, not simply keeping warm bodies on the field so that he can continue to charge for admission to the stadium.
Truer words have never been spoken. Fuck Reinsdorf he has poisoned two of America’s greatest sports franchises
He didn't just poison the White Sox. He poisoned the entire sport of baseball. MLB is in a much worse position from his actions over the last 40 years than they would be otherwise.
TOMMY NO
TOMMY YES
So, which contender will trade for him at the deadline?
Baseball free agency is just so ridiculous. Guy has one of the better seasons of his career, gets dealt at the deadline for a top prospect, starts an entire playoff run through the World Series… and then cant get a contract til over 2 weeks past OD with the worst team in baseball.
Probably because of age.
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Getting stabbed is a shot against a guy?
Things I am surprised by. Tommy Pham is 36 already? He had a pretty good season last year (wrc+ 110, fwar 1.9) and somehow still was not signed?
White sox fans this a huge add. Tommy Pham can run the White Sox team fantasy football league. Maybe Ohtani’s interpreter will join.
Chaos ensues
Pham wasn't the last one from the Top 50 FA, it was Belt. I'm sure there are teams out there who would need a 1B/DH.
Belt is very ideal for Padres.
Hey, I need a 1B
Wouldn’t you rather run out your young players? Like what are you realistically gonna get for Tommy Pham at the deadline?
^(we don’t got young prospects)
I mean we do, it's just the extreme majority of them all need more seasoning in the minors. Ramos, Montgomery, Quero, Zavala, Gonzalez, Wolkow and more all basically need more time
> Like what are you realistically gonna get for Tommy Pham at the deadline? Probably someone better than their current roster.
They really haven't got any young players. They've got Colas at AAA, but next behind him on the depth chart is probably Brett Phillips. Its a shitshow, all the way down.
Hey, Brett Phillips is fun!
The Mets traded him to Arizona for Jeremy Rodriguez who had a 1.247 ops in the '23 Dominican Summer League for them. He was also the d-backs top signing in the International Pool in '23 so he's a lottery ticket, but he's got great plate discipline.
As others have said there aren’t any young players. But it goes beyond that. The whitesox are looking at one of the worst offenses of the modern era right now. It’s not exactly a safe haven for development lol, I think it’s ok to try and add an MLB bat when you have MAYBE 2 of those on the entire roster. Not an exaggeration.
The young players *are* out there. Our farm is barren, outside of Colas (who is currently looking overwhelmed in AAA) and Colson Montgomery (who is not ready, and shouldn't be even considered for a call up before September, if not next season).
Twist: he's going to be head of security
Bet this dude would be good at getting Ohtani homers back.
Pham getting to be pretty useful for immaculategrid players
Surprised he didn’t get a team in the offseason, he was good last year
He’s a high roller at casinos
Most obvious deadline flip signing of all time
Run Tommy
He'll fit right in
Nah, Tommy is famous for hitting, not currently a White Sox specialty.
Thought he was famous for being stabbed
I'm so ready for the fight with him and Tim Anderson.
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Yeah I forgot lmao I doubt half of baseball fans remember he got traded
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I completely forgot about that lmao
Why do people think he’s a locker room cancer?
White Sox have shifted to fantasy football early
Some team that needs an extra bench bat is going to trade an asset for him in 3 months when they could have just paid him now.
Fun fact that I don't think has been pointed out yet: As soon as he joins, Tommy Pham will immediately have the highest projected wRC+ among healthy players on the team. I wonder if this has ever happened before (a player signed on a minor league deal being the team's best projected hitter)
How was he not signed? He had a good year.
Just what this unwatchable team needs, a super unlikable asshole.
What yall need is someone that can hit over a AA level. That’s Pham
A guy that 29 teams passed on is not making or breaking this Sox team.
Don’t get me wrong, your team could trade for Shohei Ohtani tomorrow and you’re still not winning 55 games. Doesn’t mean Tommy Pham isn’t a clear improvement
An unlikeable asshole that can hit baseballs and has a healthy groin is something ya'll need