Tommy Pham called out Mets teammates for being 'least-hardest working group of position players I've ever played with'

A lot had to go wrong for the Mets to go from World Series contenders to trade deadline sellers in four short months -- including major injuries, underperformance, and a flawed roster that wasn't able to sustain the hits it took.

But according to Tommy Pham, the 2023 Mets also didn't work hard enough.

In a wide-ranging story by Tim Britton and Will Sammon of The Athletic on New York's failed season, Pham -- who was traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks at the deadline -- is quoted as telling Francisco Lindor about his concerns regarding the Mets position players' work ethic.

"Out of all the teams I played on, this is the least-hardest working group of position players I’ve ever played with," Pham said he told Lindor.

Pham added to The Athletic that he had "a lot of respect for the work ethics of" Lindor, Pete Alonso, and Brandon Nimmo.

Still, Lindor didn't disagree with Pham's initial assessment.

"Hey man, thank you for teaching me how to work hard again," he told Pham. 

Said Nimmo about the work ethic of the position players:

"Each person needs to assess that individually," he told The Athletic. "You can only lead a horse to water; you can’t make him drink. Ultimately, a lot of this comes down to individuals and what they’re willing to do."

Lindor, Alonso, and Nimmo have all had very strong seasons.

Lindor is slashing .250/.331/.452 with 26 homers, 33 doubles, 88 RBI, and 28 stolen bases. Defensively, he's in the 96th percentile when it comes to Outs Above Average. Overall, he's tied for the 11th-most valuable player in baseball this season, via fWAR.

Alonso returned incredibly fast after being hit in the hand by a pitch in June, and is hitting .222/.324/.519 with 45 homers and 114 RBI.

Nimmo is having another fantastic season in what is the first year of the eight-year, $162 million deal he signed in the offseason. Nimmo's .825 OPS is second-best among all center fielders in the National League, behind just Cody Bellinger of the Chicago Cubs, and seventh-best among all outfielders in the NL.

Beyond Lindor, Alonso, and McNeil, the Mets' core position player group before their trade deadline sell-off included Francisco Alvarez, Jeff McNeil, Brett Baty, Starling Marte, and Mark Canha.

McNeil had a rough first half of the season, but has come on strong of late, and both Alvarez and Baty are in their rookie seasons. Alvarez has been praised for his relentless work ethic, and Baty has had an uneven season that has included a demotion to Triple-A Syracuse.

Canha, like Pham, was traded at the deadline, and Marte played the first half of the season while still recovering from offseason groin surgery. He has played in just two games since July 16, but could return for the final week of the season.