Tommy Pham picked his free-agent destination with revenge in mind
By Austin Owens
Tommy Pham is entering 2025 at 37 years of age and will be donning his 10th different uniform. Pham is a .258 career hitter who has shown flashes of power in three separate 20+ homer seasons.
Somehow it feels like Pham is constantly finding himself as part of a trade package and does not stay with one team for very long. He has played for at least two different teams in each of the last three seasons. Pham will join the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2025 on a one-year, $4 million deal. While this is not a brow-raising move around the league, joining the Pirates gives Pham the opportunity to get revenge on multiple previous enemies.
For more news and rumors, check out MLB Insider Robert Murray’s work on The Baseball Insiders podcast, subscribe to The Moonshot, our weekly MLB newsletter and join the discord to get the inside scoop during the MLB offseason.
Tommy Pham back in the NL Central could cause fireworks
Although Pham has bounced around in recent years, his first four and a half years as a big-league player were with the St. Louis Cardinals from 2014-2018. Pham returned to St. Louis last season for a brief 23-game stint before joining the Kansas City Royals to finish out the year. If Pham views the Cardinals organization the same way a lot of former players do, being on the other side of the Pirates/Cardinals rivalry could be intriguing for Pham.
Many of you may be thinking: MLB players are not necessarily concerned with getting revenge on their former ball clubs are they? Well with Tommy Pham, it is possible that this is a priority. Pham is well known for providing a spark that ignites extracurricular activity on the field. Exhibit A is an incident that occurred with Pham the entire Milwaukee Brewers team this past season.
After an interaction with Brewers catcher William Contreas following a play at the plate, Pham’s anger went on full display and he was ready to fight the entire Milwaukee roster. Between this event and the Joc Pederson episode, Pham has become notorious for altercations. Now Pham will have the opportunity to see the Cardinals and Brewers multiple times in the season if he stays with the Pirates for the entirety of 2025 and will most certainly play with a chip on his shoulder during those series.
feed