The Padres clearly believe Tommy Pham is a player they need.
He is, so far, the player among the half-dozen they have added via trades and free agency this offseason that they envision contributing to a better (even contending) team in 2020.
He is, for them, a game-changer. He does things most of their other players have not, at least as well and/or as recently.
The team on Friday afternoon officially announced the trade that brought Pham and minor-league infielder/pitcher Jake Cronenworth to San Diego and sent outfielder Hunter Renfroe, minor-league infielder Xavier Edwards and a player to be named later to the Tampa Bay Rays.
The idea of putting Pham in left field and batting him second between Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado virtually every day has the organization's decision makers believing they've taken a significant step toward halting a team record-tying stretch of nine straight losing seasons.
But adding a veteran of a certain age and at a certain cost is for the Padres both a sign of promise and a potential pitfall.
Some of the same characteristics that excited the Padres about Pham were what prompted them to thoroughly vet the 31-year-old left fielder.
As late as Friday morning, two people familiar with what needed to be finalized expressed some trepidation about the medical checks required to officially complete the trade.
Pham played through a small fracture in his hand and missed time in the second half. He was also bothered by an elbow injury for which he said late in the season he was planning platelet-rich plasma and stem cell treatments.
The hand injury was incurred in August when he slid into second base trying to stretch a single into a double, a play that provides a glimpse into part of the reason the Padres are so high on Pham.
Wednesday afternoon, a member of the Padres front office talked about the need for a certain kind of veteran, a role they believed Pham could fill to positive effect but were still checking on.
They were highly desirous of acquiring a hitter who could play every day _ actually be productive against pitchers who throw from either side _ and was one of just five major leaguers to hit at least 21 home runs and steal at least 25 bases.
But the cost was high, as they were being asked to part with Renfroe, a Gold Glove-caliber fielder at the two corner outfield spots, and Edwards, one of their top minor league prospects, to get Pham and Triple-A infielder/reliever Jake Cronenworth.
So the passionate energy with which Pham plays, the Padres wanted to make sure, had not left him damaged. And as best they could, they wanted to ascertain whether his intensity roiled without boiling over.
In addition to a player who produced in multiple ways they have not in recent years, the Padres were looking to add "edge" to their clubhouse in the form of a player who is on the field almost every day.
They brought in 37-year-old Ian Kinsler last season to add a little salt to the team and were pleased with his contribution to the culture _ save for the continued decline in his offensive production and his obscene gesture and screamed profanity directed at fans.
Where Kinsler was supposed to be a placeholder at second base for a few months, though, Pham is expected to be a bridge that lasts a couple years. He is under team control the next two seasons, including his second year of arbitration in 2020 in which he is projected to make $8.6 million, and the Padres' initial expectation is they will go younger in left field after 2021.
For now, Pham becomes in many respects the Padres' best player of late.
The left-handed hitter is one of just 54 qualifying major leaguers to rank in the top 100 in OPS against both left-handed and right-handed pitchers. Franmil Reyes, who was traded in July, was the only Padres player to do so.
Pham was one of 40 players in the majors with more than 650 plate appearances in 2019. His 654 would have ranked third on the Padres behind Eric Hosmer (667) and Machado (661).
Onto a team that ranked 28th out of 30 teams in the majors with just .31 walks per strikeout comes Pham, who was 18th in the majors with .66 walks per strikeout. Greg Garcia (.64) and Machado were the only Padres with more than 20 plate appearances to have even half as many walks as they did strikeouts.
Pham's .818 OPS would have ranked first among Padres qualifiers and third behind Tatis (.969) and Reyes (.849) among those with more than 20 plate appearances.
And while he lacks the defensive range of Renfroe, Pham has committed one error in left field in his 2,335 innings there and is one of two major leaguers to have not committed an error there in the past two seasons.
That Pham figures to bat between Tatis and Machado is poetic. His 3.5 offensive wins above replacement (oWAR) in 2019 would have put him between Tatis' team-high 4.5 and Machado's 3.1. The last time the three players who primarily hit at the top of the Padres lineup were coming off a season in which they combined for more than 11.1 oWAR was 2005. (Dave Roberts, Mark Loretta, Brian Giles were coming off an '04 season in which they combined for 12.1 oWAR).
The expected return is high. That's why the Padres had to make sure Pham was the right guy.
