Tommy Pham wasn’t the biggest free-agent acquisition by the Mets this offseason, but he was part of a group that was expected to join an already potent roster and propel them back into the postseason.
Instead, the outfielder was among the veteran players shipped out of Queens prior to the Aug. 1 trade deadline, a sell-off that signaled a white flag on a season that went very wrong.
Pham, back at Citi Field for the first time on Monday with the Diamondbacks, still seemed in disbelief about how the season unraveled with the Mets.
“If you got to repeat this season 10 times, I think you’d probably only get that result maybe once,” Pham said. “Nine out of 10 times, guys would perform like they were expected to.”
In addition to Pham, the Mets also traded Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander, David Robertson, Mark Canha and Dominic Leone.
Asked to point to a reason why it went so wrong, Pham couldn’t.
“No, injuries happen,” Pham said. “I’ve never seen a lot of guys struggle all at once. It usually doesn’t work like that.”
Among the injuries were the loss of Edwin Diaz and Monday’s scheduled starter, Jose Quintana, during spring training.
“We tried to figure it out with [Robertson] and other guys,” Buck Showalter said of the team’s attempts to make up for the loss of Diaz.
“Everybody’s got something,” Showalter said. “If you’re looking for sympathy here, people will step on your neck and laugh while you’re bleeding. Your depth is always gonna get tested. Unfortunately, it was a guy who was scheduled to pitch the second game of the season [for us] and a closer coming off a historic year. But that’s an excuse. We should’ve played better. We had opportunities to make it not matter.”
That didn’t happen, which led to Pham being sent to Arizona, who entered Monday in the final wild-card spot in the National League.
The move was something Pham said he didn’t anticipate coming into the year.
“Before the season, I didn’t think it would happen, so I didn’t make arrangements,” Pham said. “What I mean by that is in [Cincinnati last year], I had an idea, so I got a small apartment. I packed very light. Here, I did the opposite because I didn’t think the Mets would be selling.”
But when it became clear a second-half run to the postseason wasn’t going to materialize, owner Steve Cohen and general manager Billy Eppler pivoted the direction of the franchise, trading those veteran players for prospects to replenish the depleted farm system.
Despite the results, Pham said he appreciated Showalter and Francisco Lindor protecting the rest of the team.
“Buck was great,” Pham said. “He was honest and a straight shooter. As a player, that’s all you can ask for. … New York is different. The fans, they love their teams and it’s the biggest media [market]. The way he handled it, he never threw a player under the bus. He took accountability and took all the heat. It makes you respect him even more. Lindor the same. As bad as the season was for us as a team, Lindor took everything.”
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