Tommy Pham upset with Mike Trout over fantasy football dispute
May 12, 2022; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Cincinnati Reds left fielder Tommy Pham (28) looks on at the batting cage before the game against the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
Tommy Pham has now placed blame on Mike Trout for not resolving the fantasy football dispute between Pham and Joc Pederson last week.
Pham just finished serving a three-game suspension after slapping Pederson over accusations of Pederson cheating in their fantasy football league. The slap occurred prior to Friday night’s San Francisco Giants-Cincinnati Reds game (video here).
On Tuesday, Pham spoke with reporters to give his side of the matter.
Pham felt that Pederson was cheating in an expensive league. Pederson denied cheating, but Pham said that he also felt disrespected by trash talk from Pederson geared towards Pham’s former team, the San Diego Padres. Pham later dropped out of the fantasy league.
While speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Pham assigned the blame over the rules issue to Trout, the league’s reluctant commissioner.
“Trout did a terrible job, man,” Pham said while laughing, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. “Trout is the worst commissioner in fantasy sports because he allowed a lot of (stuff) to go on, and he could’ve solved it all. I don’t want to be the (bleeping) commissioner; I’ve got other (stuff) to do. (Trout) didn’t want to do it. We put it on him, so it’s kind of our fault too because we made him commissioner.”
As the league’s commissioner, Trout is responsible for making sure all rules are followed. Perhaps he was too busy rehabbing from the injury that held him out for most of the 2021 season to properly do the job.
Pham was set to return to the Reds’ lineup on Tuesday, but was removed due to left calf discomfort that he felt while taking batting practice.
With Pham’s suspension completed, this should close the door on what might end up being the strangest story to come out of this MLB season.
