Recent Dodgers, Orioles roster decisions should make Pirates' next move obvious

The start to the season for Tommy Pham has been one of the worst and most disapointing in recent Pirates memory. It is kind of surprising that he is still even rostered, but that could be changing soon. The Dodgers DFA'd long tenured utility man Chris Taylor over the weekend, while the Orioles did the same with Kyle Gibson. Money is not treated quite the same in Pittsburgh as it is with these ball clubs, but this may put pressure on the Pirates to make a change. After all, the Orioles haven't exactly been among the league's top spenders recently, either.

Taylor was on the last year of a four year, $60 million contract and Gibson was on a one-year deal worth $5.25 million. Gibson's deal was a little over a million more than the one Pham was signed to, but regardless, his production was not cutting it and they cut ties. That is exactly what Pittsburgh needs to do now.

Pham is batting .179 with an OPS of .476 and six RBI. His strikeout rate is the highest it has been since 2016 at 27.8% and he has accounted for a -0.6 fWAR. Taylor was cut with a .200 batting average, an OPS of .457, and a 37.1% strikeout rate. His fWAR was just -0.3.

Taylor has not played as much as Pham, but both have been very unproductive this season, and the Dodgers decided to move on with a smaller sample size. So why not do the same with Pham? Matt Gorski was just optioned down instead to correspond to Spencer Horwitz's arrival, and Gorski has been better than Pham.

Pirates should follow Dodgers and Orioles by DFA'ing Tommy Pham.

In 2024, the Pirates waited until August to place Michael A. Taylor on waivers, and they were in the Wild Card race with him. Once they fell out of the mix, they placed him on waivers. Given how similar his production at the plate was to Pham's, it was outrageous how long they waited.

Taylor had an edge on defense in center field, generating him a 0.4 fWAR on the year. Keeping Pham as long as they kept Taylor would be a major mistake, and could hurt the Pirates more than it could help them.

Jack Suwinski is lighting things up in Triple-A and could be nearing a promotion back up to Pittsburgh. The team already lacks left-handed bats, so they might as well try him again instead of Pham. He brings much more upside and value anyways. Hopefully, with more playing time, those can turn into positive results.

The Orioles are in a very similar spot as the Pirates, and they didn't mess around with moving on from Gibson. Pittsburgh should replicate what two other teams did this weekend by moving on from Pham sooner rather than later.