DETROIT — Tommy Pham fully expects to be traded before the July 30 deadline.
“Yes I do,” Pham told the Sun-Times Sunday.
“But you know you have to play a little better to get traded,” the White Sox outfielder said. “You’re not going to get traded if you’re under-performing. I’m not playing to the best of my capabilities. But I’m close. I’m close to turning it around.”
Signed as a free agent to a minor league deal for $3.5 million plus incentives on April after he missed all of spring training while not getting a deal to his liking, Pham was batting .273/.343/.398 with four homers and a .741 OPS going into Sunday’s game against the Tigers. He has reached base safely in eight of his last nine games but was 9-for-54 (.167) with one homer in his last 14.
“There’s still a lot of time,” Pham said. “I need to play better to make an impact on this team and help out this organization.”
Pham, 36, was acquired by the Diamondbacks from the Mets last season and combined to hit .256/.328/.446 with 16 homers. He helped the Diamondbacks reach the World Series and batted x in the Fall Classic. But no one signed him in the offseason, and the Sox reeled him in for $3.5 million for one year, knowing they could flip him before the deadline.
Pham, who is known for his edge and run-ins with opponents and teammates in the past, wants to play for a winner but isn’t hating playing for the 21-57 Sox, who are close to the pace of the 40-120 New York Mets.
“I don’t mind playing for this team,” Pham said. “It’s really not that far off from being a winning team. Believe it or not there are pieces in place, man. [Garrett] Crochet is under control, very cheap in terms of his value. And [Luis] Robert is one of the best young outfielders in the game.
“We started 3-22 and I didn’t get to see all that but we’ve been in a lot of ballgames. We’ve lost quite a lot. We’ve been in every game, we’re just not finishing and that’s just a piece or two away. This team historically has always had a pretty high payroll – or competitive payroll I should say – they’re not far off from getting those pieces to turn this record around.”
A couple hours after saying “we’re not getting blown to pieces” in games, the Sox and rookie right-hander Jonathan Cannon got shelled for eight runs on nine hits in one-plus innings. While manager Pedro Grifol has come under some fire as any manager of a team with this record would, Pham said Grifol is far from near the top of reasons for the record.
“I don’t think it’s fair to criticize him,” he said. “There were so many injuries of important pieces [Robert, Eloy Jimenez, Yoan Moncada] to this team, and the team is so young. You can’t blame that on the manager.”