3 NY Mets stealing from the team thanks to bad contracts

1. Tommy Pham isn’t even the best fourth outfielder option the Mets have right now

The Mets signed Tommy Pham to a one-year $6 million dollar deal. Again, the money isn’t a huge issue. $6 million means next to nothing to Steve Cohen. That, however, is money that was better spent on another fourth outfielder.

The Mets have a set outfield with Mark Canha, Brandon Nimmo, and Starling Marte left to right. All three are really good to great players, but all three come with injury concerns. The Mets gave Tommy Pham, a hitter who has been good in the past but had a .686 OPS and an 87 OPS+ last season $6 million dollars to be the fourth outfielder.

Pham as a fourth outfielder on this team didn’t make much sense to me. The Mets refused to put Marte in center last season, and Mark Canha is obviously not a center fielder in his own right. Brandon Nimmo, despite being healthy last season, has two years in which he’s played in over 100 games. Not having a real backup center fielder will hurt this team. After watching Pham there in the spring, he’s certainly not that.

Pham was also brought here to be a big bat against southpaws and did have a .784 OPS against them, but Ruf, even with his struggles as a Met, was only slightly worse as he had a .763 OPS against lefties. Ruf is by far the better option looking at career numbers.

If Pham wasn’t making the $6 million he’s going to make, I think the Mets would’ve taken a serious look at Tim Locastro for the fourth outfielder spot. Locastro provides the speed and defense Pham lacks. Spring stats don’t mean much of anything, but Locastro has looked good at the plate while Pham has two hits in 19 at-bats.

Pham isn’t the best option at DH against lefties and isn’t a good defender either. $6 million won’t hurt the Mets, but even someone like Jurickson Profar who’s still available makes more sense to me.