Mets trade Tommy Pham to Dbacks for Jeremy Rodriguez

The Mets sell-off continues as they have traded outfielder Tommy Pham to the Diamondbacks for a minor league shortstop.

The Mets jettisoned another major league player off their roster on Tuesday, reportedly sending outfielder Tommy Pham to the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for minor league shortstop Jeremy Rodriguez.

Rodriguez, 17, was an international signing by the Dbacks this past winter and is not currently among the club’s top 30 ranked prospects, per MLB.com.

In 37 games in the Dominican Summer League, the left-handed hitting Rodriguez is hitting .250/.368/.383 with two home runs, six doubles, two triples, 18 RBI, 24 runs scored and 12 stolen bases with a .751 OPS.

Pham emerged as an everyday player for the Mets as a result of Mark Canha’s early season struggles and produced the highest OPS of any regular for the Mets. The veteran right-hander slugged 10 home runs, 15 doubles, a triple and 36 RBI while hitting .268/.348/.472 in 79 games with the Mets this season. Eight of Pham’s ten home runs coming against left-handed pitching.

The 36-year-old Pham signed a one-year, $6 million contract with the Mets before the 2023 season, a deal that paid of in spades for this club. Pham also received a $400,000 bonus for reaching 250 plate appearances this season.

Posting an .820 OPS this season, Pham proved to be one of the great free agent values for the 2023 season and one that the Mets likely were not anticipating to this degree.

The moves comes as no surprise, as Pham becomes the third player with an expiring contract and the sixth player overall to be moved in the midst of this lost season for the Mets. New York has moved Eduardo Escobar to the Angels in June, and have dealt David Robertson, Max Scherzer, Mark Canha and Justin Verlander in the last five days. They still may not be done yet, either, as the club is reportedly still fielding trade offers for Brooks Raley, Adam Ottavino and potentially even more players.

Tick, tick, tick…