New San Diego Padres baseball team manager Bob Melvin speaks during an introductory press conference Monday, Nov. 1, 2021, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Derrick Tuskan)
Padres could have financial hesitations regarding free-agent outfielder
Multiple reports over the offseason indicated that the Padres had interest in signing Tommy Pham, with the most recent of these items coming in mid-March, when USA Today’s Bob Nightengale wrote that San Diego had interest in Pham on a one-year deal worth around $3M or $4M. Opening Day has now come and gone with Pham still a free agent, but Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports that the Padres still have interest, though they are wary that signing Pham wouldn’t leave much flexibility for future in-season moves while still remaining under the luxury tax threshold.
RosterResource projects a current tax number of around $223.6M for San Diego, while Cot’s Baseball Contracts has a notably higher projection of $231M. It is important to note that these sites and others are only making estimates, while teams have their own internal mechanisms for calculating a luxury tax figure (and the league its own set of calculations to determine the final number at the end of the season). The Padres seem intent on resetting their tax payor status and staying under the $237M threshold, so if they have reservations about signing Pham for $3-4M, that perhaps might indicate their internal number is closer to Cot’s figure than RR’s figure. That said, it could also be a negotiating tactic on the Padres’ part to seek out a larger bargain on Pham, as the outfielder is undoubtedly eager to get onto the field.
X-rays were negative on Willson Contreras’ left hand, Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol told Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat and other reporters. Contreras was hit by a pitch on Wednesday and didn’t play in Thursday’s 8-5 win over the Marlins, but the hope is that he can play in the Cards’ next game on Saturday, either as a DH or as a catcher. Contreras already has two homers and a .979 OPS over his first 25 plate appearances of the young season, as he enters the second year of his five-year, $87.5M pact with St. Louis.
