San Diego Padres: Legitimate concern about Tommy Pham’s elbow

San Diego Padres insider Kevin Acee was on the Darren Smith Show and said that he wouldn’t be surprised if Tommy Pham was eventually shut down.

While Tommy Pham has been recovering from an oblique injury, he’s expected to be penciled into the San Diego Padres lineup on Saturday as the team’s designated hitter. However, there could be a much more significant concern here as Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune was on the Darren Smith Show on Friday. He indicated that he “wouldn’t be surprised if he (Pham) is shut down this season at some point with his elbow injury.”

Pham, 31, was acquired in December to help be a leader for the team and improve their struggles with strikeouts, a category they led the National League in last season. The former Tampa Bay Ray played through a sore elbow at the end of 2019, and Padres’ General Manager AJ Preller reportedly protected himself should Pham not be able to contribute this year.

"“When we made the deal with the Rays we put a couple different contingencies in,” Padres GM A.J. Preller said Monday afternoon at the winter meetings. “We’re still working through some final details but hope to have some clarity on that within the next 24 hours or so.”"

While the contingencies were not made public, it is reasonable to assume that it hinged on the health of Pham’s elbow. It would seem to make sense that if a threshold of innings or playing time is not met this season that the trade could potentially be rescinded. I am not entirely sure if both Hunter Renfroe and Xavier Edwards would come back or some other kind of reimbursement.

Pham is expected to have an integral part in the Padres’ lineup and overall success this season. If the extreme rumors come to fruition, it would be a severe blow to the team, and General Manager AJ Preller could be left scrambling to find a replacement without wasting a year.