Pham challenged and struck Pederson on Friday as the Giants warmed up in the outfield. They needed to be separated. Pham stated on Saturday that the altercation arose from an old text message sent by Pederson to the fantasy league’s group chat in which, according to Pham, Pederson disparaged his Padres teammates from last season.
Saturday, Pham informed reporters, “I smacked Joc. He made statements that I cannot support. I have to deal with it. It pertained to my old team, the Padres. I did not like it, nor did I enjoy the shady events in the fantasy. We had too much money at stake, thus I consider it to be a code. You’re risking my money, and then you’ll say something insulting; there’s a code to this.” Pederson told reporters on Saturday that “there was a substantial amount of money involved” and that Pham was speaking the truth.
