Austin Slater Gains Spot as Tommy Pham Takes Free Agency
Tommy Pham cleared waivers, was outrighted to Triple-A Syracuse and then elected free agency, ending his brief Mets run and clearing the way for austin slater to keep the roster spot. Pham had gone hitless in nine games, a short stint that left the Mets moving on fast after adding him on a minor league deal in March.
Pham’s Mets stint ends
Pham exercised his right to reject the assignment and leave the organization after the outright. “I have the right to reject outright assignments and have exercised that right,” he said. That choice turned a minor league decision into a clean exit.
He got into nine games for New York and went to the plate 14 times, but the line was empty: seven strikeouts, one walk and zero hits. The Mets had moved him into five Single-A games in March before calling him up in mid-April, then watched the bat stay quiet once he reached the majors.
Austin Slater takes the spot
The roster opening exists because the Mets added Slater a couple of days after the Marlins let him go, and Pham became the casualty of that move. New York did not keep both outfielders; it chose Slater, then lost Pham when he cleared waivers and took free agency.
That is the practical change for the Mets: one outfield slot shifts to Slater, while Pham exits after failing to get a hit across his nine-game stretch. The club had signed Pham on March 26, but his return never matched the pace of the rest of his recent track record.
Pirates numbers linger
Last year with the Pirates, Pham hit ten home runs and drew walks at an 11.1% clip while posting a.245/.330/.370 line and a 94 wRC+. He also had a brutal.207/.280/.237 line through the end of May before rebounding to.304/.382/.495 from the start of June through the end of August, then finishing September at.143/.270/.270.
He had said a treatment to address plantar fasciitis could improve his game coming into 2026, which gave the offseason move a longer horizon than his Mets stop. Instead, the immediate result is a free-agent market return after a waiver pass, an outright to Syracuse and a roster turn that hands Slater a clearer place in New York’s outfield mix.
