Veterans on bad teams poised to move at MLB trade deadline
Few players know more about getting flipped at the trade deadline than Tommy Pham.
The veteran outfielder has been dealt within 48 hours of the deadline three different times. In 2018, the St. Louis Cardinals traded him to the Tampa Bay Rays. Four years later, the Cincinnati Reds sent him to the Boston Red Sox after he signed a one-year contract. Last season, the New York Mets traded him to the Arizona Diamondbacks after he signed a one-year deal.
Pham will likely be traded again by this year’s July 30 deadline. And he’s not alone — that has become the expectation when an accomplished veteran signs a short-term deal with a club built for last place.
“Getting traded in the middle of the season is one of the toughest things in baseball — probably in any sport,” Pham said. “Because, you know, you got to pack up all your stuff and leave and get readjusted and reacclimated.”
This winter, coming off his best offensive season since 2019 and an unexpected World Series run with the Diamondbacks, Pham preferred to join a team with postseason expectations. But he said he didn’t receive an offer until the Pittsburgh Pirates extended one — without a trade bonus — on Feb. 25.
The San Diego Padres were next, on the last day of February, offering a one-year contract for a reunion — Pham spent the 2020 and 2021 seasons in San Diego. Pham didn’t find either offer satisfactory. So, he waited. And waited. And waited, until signing with the White Sox on April 15. Pham made his season debut 11 days later, recording two hits out of the 2-hole to help the White Sox improve to 4-22.
Now 35, Pham didn’t make his major league debut until his age-26 season in 2014 and didn’t reach free agency until after the 2021 season at age 33. He has since signed only one-year deals, in large part because front offices are more wary than ever before of giving veterans multiyear contracts, to avoid overpaying for past production.
Meanwhile, clubs destined for mediocrity (or worse) have found access to lottery tickets through that class of free agent — or veterans looking to recoup their value with bounce-back campaigns — by signing them to one-year deals with an eye toward the trade deadline.
“A lot of the rationale is avoiding getting saddled with bad contracts,” one National League executive said. “Getting a potential return at the deadline is part of it as well. That certainly doesn’t hurt. Some guys are a better fit to do that. Others are just to be more competitive.”
Best case, the team exceeds expectations and doesn’t subtract at the deadline. Worst case, the player doesn’t perform well enough for a contender to acquire and the money is wiped off the books in November. Designating the player for assignment once his value is deemed not enough for a trade is another option. Examples over the past month include Tim Anderson (Miami Marlins) and Eddie Rosario and Nick Senzel (Washington Nationals). The risk is minimal. The possible reward could accelerate a rebuild.
Just ask the Kansas City Royals. Ahead of the 2023 season, the Royals, en route to a 106-loss season, signed veteran reliever Aroldis Chapman to a one-year deal. He posted a 2.45 ERA in 31 appearances before he was traded to the Texas Rangers for two players on July 30. One player was a minor league outfielder named Roni Cabrera. The other was Cole Ragans, a talented left-hander who couldn’t squeeze into the Rangers’ rotation.
The Rangers won the World Series with Chapman, while Ragans was recently named an American League All-Star, pitching for a Royals team competing for a wild-card spot this season.
