Padres News: Tommy Pham’s injury another obstacle to overcome

Given the recent news on Tommy Pham’s injury, the Padres could potentially be without their left fielder for the remainder of the season.

The hits keep coming against the Padres, as left fielder Tommy Pham reportedly broke the hamate bone in his hand in Sunday’s finale in Arizona. The team trainer came out to check on him mid-at-bat during the ninth inning yesterday after Pham awkwardly swung at a pitch. He left on his own power, but it had all the signs that something was wrong.

The injury was literally adding insult to injury in a much larger disappointing weekend, in which the Padres were swept, falling to 11-12 on the year and 4.5 games back of the first-place Dodgers, who have now won five in a row. Pham, 32, was acquired in the offseason along with Jake Cronenworth from the Tampa Bay Rays.

On Saturday, he left the game with cramping in both calves. On the replay, he threw the back in awkwardly, which had all of Padres Twitter thinking it was his elbow that was the issue. He just hasn’t looked like the same hitter in previous years, and we’ll see if anything more develops in the coming weeks, especially if he misses the rest of the year. Might he get Tommy John surgery?

We recently discussed several options to replace Pham in left field, although that was assuming the Padres would move him to DH permanently. Josh Naylor was reportedly called up to take Pham’s spot, but it doesn’t feel like a marginal improvement based on the sample we have seen.

And the Padres are now in a tough spot because of their record. If they continue to freefall, what’s the point in trading away assets for a piece to squeak into the postseason? The Padres might be facing another lost year and potentially selling at the trade deadline. This will be a critical week to turn the team’s bad fortunes around.

I suppose they could still sign Yasiel Puig.