It is that time of year again; time for the Pirates to trade away any veteran of value to accelerate their never-ending rebuild with the promise of success that will never come. This season’s crop of potential trade candidates includes pitchers Mitch Keller, Andrew Heaney, and David Bednar, third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes, and outfielders Bryan Reynolds and Tommy Pham.
Of those players, Pham is the one who is generating the most interest given his stellar offensive numbers as of late. In his last 15 games he is batting .380 with four homeruns, 13 RBIs, and a slugging percentage of .660. If Pham were to be moved, it would be nothing new for this veteran. In fact, Pham is just one of 49 players that have played for more than 10 teams during their MLB career; perhaps his walkup music should be, “I’ve Been Everywhere” by Johnny Cash.
So far, Pham has donned the uniform of the Cardinals (twice), Rays, Padres, Reds, Red Sox, Mets, D-backs, White Sox, Royals, and Pirates. It seems all but a formality he will either join his 11th team at the trade deadline, or maybe even go back to one of his previous 10 teams. If he goes to a brand-new team, he will be just the 24th player in MLB history to play for 11 or more teams.
With all those teams you would think Pham would have been traded numerous times and you would be correct. He has been traded five times, including twice in 2024. In 2018 the Cardinals traded Pham and international bonus slot money to the Rays in exchange for Justin Williams, Genesis Cabrera and Roel Ramirez. Then in 2019 the Rays traded Pham and Jake Cronenworth to San Diego Padres in exchange for Hunter Renfroe, Xavier Edwards and a player to be named later; (Esteban Quiroz). In 2022, the Reds traded Pham to the Red Sox for a player to be named later (Nick Northcut). In 2024, Pham was traded to the Cardinals from the White Sox. Then after just 68 games in his second stint with St. Louis, Pham was traded by the Cardinals to the D-backs.
While 10, likely to be 11, teams is a unique way to amass a career in Major League Baseball, there is certainly no shame in it. Pham has been a solid player, with a respectable .257 career average with 1,037 hits, 143 homeruns, and 495 RBIs. His bounty of teams is actually rather impressive for a position player of his caliber considering the fact that of the 49 players to play for 10 or more teams, only 22 of them have been position players.
Predictably pitchers are the ones that move around the most; the top five on the list are all pitchers, Edwin Jackson (14 teams), Octavio Dotel (13), Rich Hill (13), Mike Morgan (12), and Ron Villone (12).
From a Pittsburgh perspective, there are a lot of familiar (and maybe not so familiar) names on the list of 49. There are the aforementioned Pham, Dotel, Hill, and Villone, but there are several other blasts from the past (some the very distant past), including Matt Stairs (12 teams), Miguel Batista (11), Kenny Lofton (11), Terry Mulholland (11), Dennys Reyes (11), Julian Tavarez (11), Rick White (11), Ken Brett (10), Marlon Byrd (10), Dana Eveland (10), Jose Guillen (10), Roberto Hernandez (10), and Dan Miceli (10). There are also a few players from the turn of last century including pitcher Gus Weyhing (11) who played for the Pirates and other teams like the Brooklyn Superbas (not a typo). Then there was utility player Paul Hines who played for the Pittsburgh Alleghenys (the Pirates before the Pirates) and also played for teams like the Boston Beaneaters. Finally, there was infielder Pop Smith who played for the Alleghenys and also had stints with the Worcester Ruby Legs and Louisville Eclipse.
While nobody is left that saw Pop Smith play, 100 years from now we might be talking about Pham in the same manner, taking solace in the fact that the Pirates helped contribute to Pham setting a record for playing for the most teams in MLB history. He is 37. If he gets traded to a new team this year, that gets him to 11 different teams. If he plays until 40 that means he can sign one-year deals, with different teams of course, during his age 38, 39, and 40 seasons.
Almost out of a movie script, the Athletics will begin their tenure in Las Vegas in 2028, which is Pham’s hometown. Could there be a more fitting way to break the record for playing for the most teams in MLB history than by playing for his hometown team during their inaugural season in Sin City? Hey, we don’t have much to root for in Pittsburgh when it comes to baseball, so we have to come up with other scenarios to celebrate. Plus I am just looking for an excuse to take a trip to Las Vegas in 2028.
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