Cincinnati Reds outfielder Tommy Pham on Saturday said he agreed to a three-game suspension for slapping San Francisco Giants outfielder Joc Pederson in the cheek over a fantasy football dispute prior to Friday’s game.
MLB said Pham was suspended for “inappropriate conduct” and was also fined. The suspension was retroactive to Friday and runs through Sunday, when the Reds’ series with the Giants concludes.
On Friday, Pham had confronted and smacked Pederson while the Giants warmed up in the outfield. The pair had to be separated.
Pham on Saturday said the dispute stemmed from an old text sent by Pederson to the fantasy league’s group chat in which Pham says Pederson disrespected his teammates on the San Diego Padres, for whom he played last season.
“I slapped Joc,” Pham told reporters Saturday. “He said some s— I don’t condone. I had to address it.
“… It was regarding my former team. I didn’t like that and I didn’t like the sketchy s— going on in the fantasy. We had too much money on the line, so I look at it like there’s a code. You’re f—ing with my money, then you’re going to say some disrespectful s—, there’s a code to this.”
On Friday, Pederson said he was accused of cheating for placing a player on injured reserve and replacing him with a free agent in a fantasy football league. Pederson said the player he put on IR had been ruled out for that week, which made it a legal move. He said Pham had executed essentially the same maneuver with his own team.
Pederson said he had no advance notice that Pham might confront him during the series in Cincinnati.
“It was a surprise,” Pederson told reporters on Friday. “There was no real argument. He kind of came up and said, ‘Like, I don’t know if you remember from last year.’ And I was like, ‘Fantasy football.’ He was like, ‘Yeah.'”
Pham threatened violence to settle an on-field score with San Diego’s Luke Voit in April, challenging the slugger to a fight after Voit injured Reds catcher Tyler Stephenson with a hard, ugly slide into home.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.