Kansas City Royals claim OFs Tommy Pham and Robbie Grossman, trade for 1B Yuli Gurriel
The Kansas City Royals were active on the waiver wire and on the minor-league trade block Saturday as they try to fill the void left by injured first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino.
Three major league veterans are headed to Kansas City, with the Royals claiming outfielders Tommy Pham and Robbie Grossman off waivers, while they also acquired first baseman Yuli Gurriel via a minor-league trade with the Atlanta Braves.
The St. Louis Cardinals designated Pham for assignment earlier this week after acquiring him from the Chicago White Sox at the trade deadline at the end of July. Across his stints with Chicago and St. Louis, the 11-year veteran has played in 93 games this season, posting a .254 batting average and .698 OPS, hitting seven home runs and driving in 31 runs in the process.
Grossman was placed on outright waivers by the Texas Rangers after slumping offensively for much of the year. He has also played for the White Sox this year, and in 71 total games played he has a .227 batting average with just three home runs and 14 RBIs. The Royals will be Grossman’s sixth different team in the last four seasons.
Gurriel last played in the majors last season with the Miami Marlins after spending the first seven years of his career with the Houston Astros. He has played exclusively in the minor leagues so far this year with the Braves’ Triple-A affiliate, the Gwinnett Stripers. He has a .292 average and 12 home runs in 75 Triple-A games.
To make room for Pham and Grossman, the Royals have designated catcher Austin Nola and infielder C.J. Alexander for assignment. The club also posted on Twitter/X that it plans to have the new waiver claims join the team on Sunday. Meanwhile, Royals reporter Joel Goldberg posted that Kansas City also wants to add Gurriel tomorrow following a corresponding move on the 26 and 40-man rosters.
Pasquantino suffered a broken thumb in a collision with Yainer Diaz of the Astros in the Royals’ loss Thursday night, which is expected to keep him out 6-8 weeks. Relief pitcher Lucas Erceg was also injured on that play and is considered day-to-day.
The Royals will finish their series against the Astros Sunday afternoon before before hosting the division-leading Cleveland Guardians for a three-game set starting on Monday.
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