Padres left fielder/designated hitter Tommy Pham suffered a broken hamate bone in his hand less than a month ago, but it doesn’t appear that will bring an end to his season. Rather, the Padres could bring back Pham from the IL “any day,” Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes. Pham is even closer to returning than first baseman Eric Hosmer, who landed on the IL on Sept. 8 with a fractured left index finger, according to Acee.
It had been several years since the Padres contended, but they’re in the thick of the race this season with the NL’s second-best record (31-17). The only problem is that they’re stuck in a division with the Dodgers, owners of the NL’s top win-loss mark at 33-14. A division title may be not be in the cards for the Padres, then, but they’re nonetheless a formidable team who should be able to earn a playoff spot in the next couple weeks.
Pham, whenever he returns, could be a key piece of the puzzle for San Diego as it aims for its first-ever World Series. The 32-year-old hit a subpar .207/.316/.293 in 95 plate appearances this season before going on the IL, but the Padres acquired him from the Rays last winter because of his excellent track record. Pham was quietly one of the majors’ most valuable outfielders from 2017-19, during which he slashed .284/.381/.475 with 65 homers and 65 steals over 1,754 trips to the plate between the Cardinals and Rays. If Pham’s able to come back this year, the Padres will hope he revisits his St. Louis/Tampa Bay production from the past.
As Padres fans, Pham or Hosmer to return first? Hosmer has been a bust in my eyes for your guys. Pham I am on the fence with and see him on a decline. Nothing against Pham and his contributions with Cardinals and Rays, but his flash is probably gone now at 32 years of age. I only say this because he is similar to Josh Harrison on the field but different positions. Harrison is struggling offensively like Pham. That is why I ask, Hosmer or Pham?
I disagree with a lot of people that’s Hosmer‘s a bust. Not many players hit 25 home runs on a .265+ clip and under a 100 RBI in a full season. People don’t usually consider other factors surrounding the Padres in the last 1, 3, 5 years.. He’s also turned around completely to his old self right now which is how his statistics reflect over his time in KC.. To expect someone to only improve constantly every year or play great every year is unrealistic. Pham may be running out of sand but he’s a very good all around player I’d expect both to get exactly one more all star game each as padres for the next 5 and 3 years respectively.
Hosmer has been an incredible waate of money. He wasnt even playable the last two years.
Hosmer is in year 3 of an 8 year deal. Depending what happens with the DH long term in the NL it could be a decent deal for San Diego overall.
They paid him a lot of money when they were rebuilding still. Next year he’s on a 5 year 59 million deal essentially, if the 3 years 39 mill is exercised. AAV of 12 mill for Hosmer to be a DH/1B isn’t the worst thing in the world.
Nvm. Miscounted. Hes on a 5 year 79 mill deal. Which is what aav of 16 a year roughly.
Lol why because he’s not paul goldschmidt? I’ve mentioned numerous times this guy had the defense we were so proud of with A-Gon before he got here and still offers a lot as a hitter, defender, and leader. How can anyone be upset about an above average performing 1B on a 70 win team earning $18M a year? Most of the money was frontloaded while we were crap which is beautiful for this team later on.. Name 5 other 1Bs from last year who hit 25+ HR last year, .265, played good defense, and made less than $18M, I’ll wait.
18 million per year is a reasonable contract for Hosmer. I think too many people get wrapped up in the overall size of the contract. If he was getting paid 25-30 million per year, that would be different.
I agree.
To call Hosmer a bust is incorrect. People can’t seem to separate out his contract from his production, and it’s not his fault that Preller bid against himself (again!).
Hosmer is a slightly above average player and most teams would be pleased to have him.
However, once you do factor back in his contract, then you can definitely say he’s been a big disappointment. But this doesn’t make him a ‘bust’ in terms of production. If he was getting 10 mil a year, I’m sure people would say he’s a bargain.
Who cares about his last two seasons, the team wasn’t competitive.
It matters this year, and he has played well.
What an ignorant statement. We’re talking about if he’s been a bust or not and you want to disregard 317 games of barely league average production while getting paid 42 million because he’s had 31 good games? Lol
Hosmer was nowhere near average the first two years as a Padre. Absolute bottom-tier offensive production for a 1b and poor defense.
He turned it around in 2020, mostly because he finally decided to change his approach and hit more balls in the air.
Both things can be true. He WAS awful. He IS playing well.
I don’t know what 1B did do that, but I know one who didn’t and that was Eric Hosmer with his 22 HR and $21 million salary last season.
However, if you look at Hosmer’s ..310 OBP and .425 Slg, last year, here are a few of the 1B who got on base more often and impacted the ball more than Hosmer last season.
Hosmer: .310/.425
CJ Cron: ..311/.469
Moreland: .328/.507
Yandy Diaz: .340/.476
Vogelbach: .341/.439
G. Cooper: .344/.446
Thames: .346/.505
C. Walker: .348/.476
Choi: .363/.459
Mancini: .364/.535
Voit: .378/.464
Kendrick: .395/.572
Now these players are some of the more under the radar types. I obviosly didn’t include some of the obvious 1B that everyone expects to outperform Hosmer’s .310 OBP and .425 Slg like Rizzo, Santana, Freeman, Muncy, Bell, Hoskins, Alonso, Olson, Goldy, Encarnacion, Gurriel and Abreu.
Now Hosmer was definitely a better player and deal than Chris Davis, Yonder Alonso and probably Pujols now that his defense is so bad, so there is that.
Hosmer hit 22 home runs last year, not 25.
Hosmer played mediocre defense last year and in 2018. Anyone watching saw his problems even catching routine throws at times, let alone his other issues.
Even if we accept your reliance on batting average, every qualified 1b who hit higher than 265 also hit more than Hosmer’s 22 HR. So let’s look at their salaries. Some were better defensively than Hosmer, but most of them were in that same mediocre category. Who made less (AAV) than 18M last year?
* Gurriel, Astros ($9.5M)
* Freeman, Braves, ($16.5M)
* Rizzo, Cubs ($5.8M)
* Manicni, Orioles ($575K, arbitration, no AAV applies)
* Abreu, White Sox ($16.6M)
* Santana, Rangers ($507K, arbitration, no AAV applies)
* Bell, Pirates ($587K, arbitration, no AAV applies)
* Olson, Athletics ($575K, arbitration, no AAV applies)
That’s 8 of 9 1b with a higher BA and more HR for less AAV. It doesn’t look better using actual salary instead of AAV, because Hoz made 21M last year, and that puts Carlos Santana on the list.
Every Padre fan is glad Hosmer fixed his swing issues for 2020. That doesn’t mean he wasn’t overpaid and unproductive in 2018 and 2019.
For his 2018 and 2019, $10M still would have been a huge overpayment. He was a replacement-level player.
This year has been a different story. Because 1b puts such a premium on offense, we still can’t say he’s been great, but he’s been good and that’s a huge boost compared to how bad he’d been.
Therealryan and billy baroo, glad you took on the challenge so thanks for chipping into the debate.. So here’s my point, he’s roughly in the top 10 the last ten years, but not the top 5 of tenured 1Bs by the numbers. You have to actually consider things like Rizzo will be making about 50% more AAV to Hosmer and hitting marginally better next year. How Freeman is already 22.5M/year according to baseball reference and is at his peak roughly. There are many players on your list who are arb or pre-arb and I’d love to see how many can become stars.. Hosmer had a stronger career start on a weaker team in the last decade and he was leveling off on a weak offense until now. I think he will have more good years in the top 10 1B argument and his resume shows he’s got all the tools to argue that. Many hitters on great hitting teams look better than they really are because the lineup wears down the best of pitchers. The same goes inversely to that point. Is Hosmer hitting this well because of his focus and health or the cast around him?.. I would argue that players on this team will look like we got them for cheap going forward because they went from one of the worst offenses to top of almost every offensive category less than a week ago. Reminder, he’s won 4 gold gloves at 1B, a position where usually no more than 5-10 errors are made a year for full-time starters. And he hasn’t played bad defense, just not gold glove defense..
I mean, with this team 5-6 more years if he stays, Hosmer’s a future hall of famer. I hope he stays here and hits 20-25 homers a year like he’s been doing until he’s done playing.
Any points you just made were negated by your last paragraph.
Hosmer has zero chance to be in the HOF, unless he turns in eight straight Mike Trout type seasons.
He wasn’t anywhere close to a Top 10 first baseman in 2018 or 2019. He’s nowhere close to Top 10 over the last 10 years. There’s no “roughly” about it.
The only way to make him look like he was close to acceptable is to radically, and I mean RADICALLY, over-value batting average. By any meaningful measure of production, he’s been a bottom 3 first baseman as a Padre. Since 2018, there have been 24 first baseman with enough PA to qualify. He ranks:
22 in wRC+
23 in wOBA
22 in fWAR
And that’s WITH his bounce-back 2020.
Hosmer has zero chance at the HoF. Zero. None. Nada. Zilch. He is already past his chronological peak (outliers do occur). His career marks are:
175 home runs
336 OBP
435 SLG
This is his FIRST season with a SLG over 500. Came close in 2017 but didn’t make it. His career won’t be near as good as Fred McGriff and the Crime Dog still needs a ticket to get into Cooperstown.
Those are laughable numbers for consideration by the Hall. A second baseman would have a hard time getting in with that production through Age 30.
This shortened year Hosmer been good against righties only. He’s useless against lefties since he’s a Padre.
Hosmer hit RHP decent in SD his first two seasons. He should be benched against lefties. Do that and Hosmer and the Padres are fine.
Exactly I think Hosmer has been well worth it. You see what steered this game bad is everyone sees a guy that doesnt hit 40 Homer’s and have a 350-400 obs and says ohh he trash. Shoot give me a guy like Hosmer anyday with his 280-300 ave 75-100 rbi and solid defense over any homer or nothing ballplayer.
You keep saying Hosmer hit 25 HR like if you repeat it enough, MLB will add the homers he’s missing.
He hit 18 in 2018 and 22 last year,
In 2019, there were 83 players who hit 265 or better,
56 of them hit 22 or more HR. It ain’t that uncommon, and most of them played tougher defensive positions.
If you want to hang your hat on RBI, which no informed analyst or ront office does, there were still 30 of that group with 90+.
So you cherry-pick two of the least important offensive measurements (BA and RBI) and Hosmer STILL comes out looking like crap last season.
He had some bad, bad years in KC, too. In 2012 and 2014 he didn’t even slug .400, which is gruesome for a 1b.
Pham is a free agent after 2021. Its possible the team re-signs him, but not all that likely.
A bust? This year or overall? No way he’s a bust this year.
Hosmer committed longterm to the Padres. That was a huge statement at the time and the guy has contributed nicely in 2020. No Padres fan should be killing Hosmer or Preller over that. Heck, every trade and/or signing Preller made this past winter and at the deadline has been a plus. Fans like to bellyache over nothing. If I was a Padres fan, I’d be thrilled over this team with no complaints. They are ahead of schedule and the young talent has barely gotten their feet wet.
The “commitment” doesn’t mean much. James Shields committed to the Padres. Wil Myers committed to them. Manny Machado didn’t sign with the Padres because of Hosmer, he signed because they had the best offer.
Padre fans are thrilled. That doesn’t mean we have to be blind to the facts of Hosmer’s performance in 2018 and 201.
Hosmer committing to the Padres wasn’t a statement of anything other than that the Padres threw the most $ at him.
Hosmer may have been bad in the first two seasons, but he’s earning his money this year. Plus he’s a clubhouse leader who has won a World Series title previously, so his prior experience is going to be important
He’s been a bust. 30 games doesn’t change that. His contract is going to look even worse as he ages. He’s never been consistent with the bat, even in his prime years with KC. Basically he had dips every other season. He might have tweaked his swing, but he’s not all of a sudden going to become a consistent 880 or 850 ops guy. Sucks for Padre fans that he “earned his money” in a 60 game season and not a regular one.
The Padres without Hosmer would have played who?
Are you telling me they couldn’t find someone to have a 100 ops and 94 ops?
Eric Thames? CJ. Cron? Ji-Man Choi? Mitch Moreland? Howie Kendrick? All have been better and were available for little to nothing in return over the past couple of seasons.
Wil Myers.
A player being a bust should be based on contract vs performance. He’s a bust. Thirty games is just a hot streak nothing more and now he’s hurt. He’s also aging. When you sign guys to long term deals in this day in age you are paying for the prime years in the front of the contract while expecting decline on the back end. You just hope they don’t fall of a cliff at the end and that’s yet to be determined. Add up the money spent bs the value returned and the numbers simply don’t jive. I’m not saying the guy is useless I’m simply saying he’s not worth the money they’ve spent and I’d be shocked if he’s worth it going forward in the latter years of his deal. Doesn’t make him a bad person or player. Just means they could have gotten that production for less and used that money in other areas.
Then again if a player shouldn’t be judged by this current hot streak he also shouldn’t be judged solely on two years of an eight year deal.
The first two years were sub par to be sure based on his contract….maybe the net three make up for it.
A WS title in the next five years will erase all the negative I can assure you that!
Leader trying to bunt with 2 strikes is dumb beyond recognition
Shannon, if we could have only one, the 2020 version of Hosmer. There’s no real reason to believe Pham has lost his mojo completely, but he wasn’t hitting before the injury and Profar has done well for several weeks.
Ideally they’re both healthy and productive. Then it turns into a roster question. Take 14 pitchers into the post-season, 12 spots for position players, do you take Garcia’s proven ability to grind out tough at-bats or Matero’s blistering speed?
The Padres are looking for their first World Series title, but they have, of course, played twice before in the WS. The wording was a tad iffy.
Can Padres win a playoff series get past 1st round b4 WS
I am a Dodgers fan. So I’m watching the game tonight. Grisham homers off Kershaw, has a delayed reaction at the plate prior to a classic bat drop, and then struts around the bases while the Dodgers dugout chirps. Joe Davis and Orel Hershiser reach a conclusion that, while having fun is okay, it’s not proper to “disrespect” one of the greats of the game. Yet Joe and Orel had no problem with Muncy dissing three=time World Series champ Bumgarner and the “Get the Ball Out of the Ocean” t-shirt. Sorry fellas, but if we can do it then so can the opposition. It’s okay to have fun, regardless of the uniform. You go, Mr. Grisham. Now come back Dodgers and win the game.
Thank you Cey Hey. It’s nice to see respect around here.
Muncy was running around the bases and Bumgarner yelled at him. Grisham spun and started into his own dugout. Not the same.
If you disrespect other players, and get fussy when they disrespect you, automatic 80 game suspension for hypocrisy. Play the d****d game and quit complaining.
I didn’t even think he delayed at the plate much if at all anyway. Sour grapes from a team who aren’t used to being challenged during a big game situation. And the pitcher shouldn’t matter. What I do like though is how respectful Grisham was, saying “it’s a big thing to hit a homer in that situation off a future hall of fame pitcher.” That’s classy.
I’m sure LA is upset, the Padres made trades and got better while the Dodgers didn’t. Now they realize the Padres are a better team.
Its going to really bother the Dodgers finishing in 2nd place.
Who cares what about what Grisham did. Get ready for a repeat tonight.
Dodgers didn’t get better?
You’ve been used to 4th place for too long.
I consider myself a rational person, not a believer in superstition.
But as a long-suffering Padre fan, I say shut your mouth. There is no reason to jinx anything.
Also, it’s a plain fact, the Dodgers have been better than us for….forever, really, and they’re a great team in 2020. I love to beat them, but let’s not go inventing psychological reasons for a single victory.
As a Padre fan, I really appreciate your view/post. To be honest, when he hit that ball, it was the oddest reaction I had seen in awhile. I thought he may have popped it up, pulled it foul or hurt himself, the way he just stood there. And for the record, I am not a fan of the home run celebrations, just hit the ball and get going.
As for the Dodger announcers, I know every teams own announcers are :homers”, but those two (especially Hershiser) takes the cake. I enjoyed how there was no mention of Grisham’s error in the post season last year until he hit that homer.
Any way you look at it, the next two games in the series are going to be awfully entertaining.
The dodgers look over matched. They have been playing down to their previous opponents and appear unable to speed back up to the big leagues.
The Dodgers are not overmatched. Don’t forget they’ve played the last two weeks without Turner, who returns tonight. For these past few years, their record has been significantly better with Turner in the lineup. They will be fine. But yes, the Padres are good and are fun to watch. While we all like our team to win, the game of baseball is bigger than any one team. I’ve watched every World Series since 1967 regardless of who the teams are, with the odd exception of 1981. I was ticked off at MLB for the strike that year and flat-out missed seeing the Dodgers win. But I’ve watched every other World Series and have never watched the Super Bowl.
Idc if you think bat-flipping or watching a home run is disrespectful. But if it’s disrespectful, it’s disrespectful regardless of who the pitcher is. From “one of the greats of the game” down to some AAAA guy called up to make a spot start and everything in between. Kershaw hasn’t “earned” the right to not have batters watch their home runs more than any other pitcher.
And the doyuers chirped
The doyuers did that to the San Fran giants last year and the Astros this year
So what?
First ever world series? So I guess ’84 and ’98 were all in my mind.
It does say “aims for its 1st ever World Series”, not “aims to make it to its 1st ever World Series”. I guess you can read it either way, but I am sure he means “to win its 1st ever World Series”.
Phamtastic news!
I’m a Rangers STH, but secretly really like the Friars! Hope they can continue to beat the Trolley Dodgers. During my tour of all 30 MLB parks, Petco ranks among my favorites. Stayed at the Omni, and walked across breezeway to games. Padres staff and friends were among the friendliest we encountered. I unfortunately had a seizure leaving one game, and passed out on the concourse. Woke up being treated by Padres team physician, and got a ride to Scripps Mercy for the evening. Nothing serious showed up other than a bump on the head and a bruised butt. One of the few ballparks I will definitely like to return to.
I like the Rangers too. They were the spark that finally turned our fortunes around.