PHAM TO REMAIN; GARCIA LEAVING
Padres also tender four pitchers, reach deal with Strahm
The Padres will invest in Tommy Pham for at least another season while going forward without one of the game’s best bench players.
Pham was among the five arbitration-eligible players to whom the Padres tendered contracts Wednesday. The other four were all righthanded pitchers — starters Zach Davies and Dinelson Lamet and relievers Dan Altavilla and Emilio Pagan.
The team reached agreement on a one-year, $2.05 million contract with lefthanded reliever Matt Strahm, who was arbitration-eligible for a second year. Strahm has posted a 3.66 ERA and 1.12 WHIP in 1962⁄ innings in his three
3 seasons with the Padres. He made $1.4 million in 2020, a season in which he had a 2.61 ERA and 0.87 WHIP while pitching more than half the season with a torn patellar tendon in his right knee. He had surgery in October.
The only arbitration-eligible player the team parted ways with was utility infielder Greg Garcia, a Valhalla High alumnus who joined his hometown team before 2019 and in the past two seasons posted .429 on-base percentage in 57 plate appearances as a pinch-hitter. No other MLB player with at least 45 plate appearances in that role got on base more. However, Garcia’s playing time was greatly diminished in 2020 with the institution of the designated hitter in the National League. The possibility the DH remains in ’21 decreased Garcia’s value to a Padres team that has multiple young sluggers it wants to see make the jump to the majors. Garcia, heading into his final year of arbitration, was likely due about $1.5 million.
Wednesday was the deadline by which teams had to decide whether to tender a contract to all players with fewer than six years of service who were not already under contract for next season. A tendered player who is not yet arbitration eligible will be assigned a contract, while the team will attempt to work out a pact with those who are eligible for arbitration. Nontendered players immediately become free agents.
All 39 players on the Padres’ 40-man roster are either signed or have been tendered.
The decision to retain Pham came after a period in
which the Padres considered what to do with the 32-year-old outfielder, who was acquired a year ago with the plan he would become a driving force in a reimagined offense.
“What he brings to the team from an offensive standpoint, the type of at-bats he has, he keeps himself in great shape, the work ethic, and in terms of the edge he’s brought to the club, he fits with our group,” Padres General Manager A.J. Preller said Wednesday night.
While Pham struggled in 2020, the biggest motivating factor in considering cutting him loose was his pending payday, expected to be close to $10 million for 2021, after which he is scheduled to become a free agent. The sides are expected to agree on a deal before the case goes to arbitration, as they did before last season (for $7.9 million) and as the Padres have done with every arbitration-eligible player since 2015.
The Padres acquired Pham and infielder Jake Cronenworth last Dec. 5 in a deal that sent outfielder Hunter Renfroe and infield prospect Xavier Edwards to the Tampa Bay Rays.
In Pham, the Padres got one of the game’s most productive players over the previous three seasons. His .381 on-base percentage from 2017 to ’19 ranked 15th in the majors, and his .856 OPS (on-base-plus-slugging percentage) was 26th. He was one of just five major leaguers to hit at least 21 home runs and steal at least 25 bases in ’19.
An injury-plagued 2020 saw Pham post a .312 OBP and .624 OPS. Pham did go 9-for-24 with two doubles and a walk in six postseason games.
He missed a month in the middle of the season after fracturing the hamate bone in his left hand and undergoing surgery Aug. 17. It was revealed this week Pham also recently underwent wrist surgery.
The latter procedure followed an emergency surgery in October to close a gash in his back after he was the victim of a knife attack outside a strip club in the Midway District. Pham has sued the club, citing “catastrophic injuries” that will cause him “economic damage.”
While Pham has been running and lifting weights, he has yet to resume baseball activities. Several sources said he is expected to be ready for spring training.
“Any time there are injuries, there is always a concern,” Preller said. “He’s working really hard right now to make sure he’s ready to go. … There is always a concern when you have an injury history and multiple injuries you’re trying to come back from.”
Should neither Pham nor Wil Myers be traded, the Padres’ outfield appears set for 2021 — with Pham, Trent Grisham and Wil Myers from left to right. The team also has designs on resigning infielder/outfielder Jurickson Profar, who is a free agent for the first time.
The Padres’ priorities for the offseason remain fortifying their bullpen and acquiring a starting pitcher to place at or near the top of their rotation.