Cristian Pache

[Edgy MD]

Firstly, there's no H in "Cristian."  So get with the program.  I'm talking to myself as much as anybody here.

Secondly, back in the 2021-2022 offseason, the Braves sent him to the A's in the Matt Olson deal, and holy heck does that deal keep giving.

Going to the Athletics were:

• Pache, who has earned -0.6 fWAR in his career since,
• Joey Estes, who has earned 0.0 fWAR in his career since,
• Ryan Cusick, who has yet to appear in an MLB game.
• Shea Langaliers, who is the prize, with 11.4 fWAR in the nearly five seasons since the trade.

Olson, meanwhile, has performed the highly unlikely feat of replacing Freddie Freeman for the last five years, and earned 25.1 fWAR while occupying one roster spot.

Nonetheless, Pache is still considered an elite outfielder, despite being a survivor of surgery in both his knee and elbow, and dropping a ball in left field last week.  His 28.5 ft./second sprint speed ties him with Carson Benge for third on the team, behind Ewing (29.5) and Robert (29.1).

Also, he seems to wear something like a compass tattooed on his Adam's apple.

[metirish]

The kind of player that bounces around the league and sometimes the same organization several times 

[Gwreck]

While I am not a professional in player development, it’s still not at all clear to me why Pache is occupying this roster spot instead of Morabito or Mauricio or even Clifford.

[Edgy MD]

12 minutes ago, metirish said:

The kind of player that bounces around the league and sometimes the same organization several times 

 

He's definitely a fifth outfielder, ballhawk/pinch-running specialist.

And while those come and go, the Mets got lucky as their last 50-BH/PR guy got red hot and valuable right at the trade deadline.

The other guy character of that type that the Mets had in reserve in Syracuse was Jihwan (also sometimes stylized as Ji-Hwan) Bae.  They released him last week and now he's in the bigs with Milwaukee.

[MFS62]

He has "caddy for an all-star" written all over him (as in Jim Pisoni).

Now they just need another outfielder to play at that level until Soto returns.

Later

[Edgy MD]

On 8/10/2026 at 1:15 PM, Gwreck said:

While I am not a professional in player development, it’s still not at all clear to me why Pache is occupying this roster spot instead of Morabito or Mauricio or even Clifford.

I imagine the idea is that Pache is with the team in order to get two or three trips to the plate a week, and they don't see an advantage to the team or to the development of those three players to call them up to serve in such a role.

That may change as things go forward, if and when they decide perhaps to give up on Baty's or Polanco's seasons, or perhaps if an injury creates a need.

[seawolf17]

Agree with Edgy here. I think they need all three of those guys to be playing every day.

(Why they don't bring up Clifford over Polanco is a larger question, but I guess they're hoping Polanco will wake up at some point.)

[MFS62]

8 minutes ago, seawolf17 said:

Agree with Edgy here. I think they need all three of those guys to be playing every day.

(Why they don't bring up Clifford over Polanco is a larger question, but I guess they're hoping Polanco will wake up at some point.)

Clifford is struggling to hit over .190 in the minors. He isn't (nor may he ever be) ready for the majors.

LAter