The greatest storyline in professional sports over the past week has been The Slap 2.0. That is all credit to the lunacy and purely deranged behavior of one Tommy Pham.
It’s the story that just will not and should die.
Pham slapped Joc Pederson in the face before the start of the Giants-Reds series over a disagreement regarding how Pederson used his IR designation in fantasy football. Pham was also upset that Pederson made a joke about the Padres in the fantasy football group chat which included other then-Padres players.
Pham’s response was to leave the league and then slap Pederson more than half a year later. Since being suspended three games for his actions, he has criticized the league commissioner, Mike Trout, and joked that despite a hamstring injury, his hand is “still good.”
On Wednesday, Jeff Wilson Jr., the player who Pederson put on the IR much to Pham’s chagrin, joined the fray, thanking Pederson for “taking one for the team.”
“That’s crazy,” Wilson told reporters on Wednesday when asked about the incident. “Actually, Robbie was the first person that told me about it, Robbie Gould. And I was like “man, that’s crazy.” I guess I was just honored to be in the conversation you know, and shout out to Joc for having me on the team and taking one for the team.”
Like all of us, Wilson Jr. seemed pretty amused by the whole saga. Let’s hope this is not the final chapter.