The Bucs announced today that they have signed Tommy Pham to a 1-year $4.025MM deal with a chance for an additional $250K via incentives.
We previously investigated what Randal Grichuk would bring to the Pirates in this article Diamondbacks Re-Sign Randal Grichuk. Looks like the Bucs have settled with Tommy Pham since missing out on Randal Grichuk.
The Pirates let Connor Joe and Bryan De La Cruz walk without arbitration, so why is Tommy Pham any better? He is more expensive so there must be some other reason the Pirates liked their chance in Free Agency and Tommy Pham over Joe and Cruz.
I believe the title of the article hints on what the Pirates like about Tommy Pham. That is of course his ability to square up a ball. He doesn't whiff and chase much, and he makes a lot of solid contact often. That falls right in line with other acquisitions IKF and Spencer Horwitz. He fits that profile much better than Joe or Cruz.
Pham is a red dead fastball hitter and is now one of the best 4-seam batters in the lineup. He hits the 2-seamer and cutter well in addition. He does struggle against the slider which is sort of a bummer since most of the Pirates' lineup struggles against the horizontal break. There is a good chance the Bucs use Pham in a weak side platoon. Historically Pham has hit lefties better than righties. The last two years his splits have been relatively even, however.
This is a solid addition to the Pirates lineup. I think the best Pirates lineup would include 5 lefty hitters manning the outfield, first, and DH to face right-handed pitchers leaving McCutchen for lefties. Right now those 5 lefties would include: Reynolds, Cruz, Palacios, Suwinski, and Horwitz. Adam Frazier may also find himself in the mix. Against southpaws they should have 4 RHH including: Reynolds, Pham, McCutchen, and possibly Cook, Yorke, or Triolo. Cruz would still man Center. You can see how a RHH was vital for the lineup because so many of them are unproven. The LHHs are more experienced and have better projections for this year. With all of these platoon options the Pirates may need to carry 14 position players on their 26 man roster and let their rotation eat a lot of innings so they would carry one less RP. More details on this in a later article.