The Kansas City Royals made a few key moves at the trade deadline. They are four games back in the American League Wild Card race with less than two months to go in the 2025 regular season. Their additions included Adam Frazier, Randal Grichuk and Mike Yastrzemski. However, all three of those hitters will be free agents at the end of the season.
As such, the Royals may be forced to dive into the free agent market, either to bring them back or to replace them. There will be plenty of bats available on the free agent market this coming offseason.
Among the available bats will be Cleveland Guardians center fielder Lane Thomas, who helped guide Cleveland to the ALCS last October. Perhaps the Royals could potentially take a look at signing him this coming winter.
The Royals will need some offense this coming offseason. Unfortunately, Thomas is not having a very good season. He is hitting .160/.246/.272 with just four home runs, 11 RBI and a .518 OPS, though he is currently on the injured list.
However, when he is healthy, he can still be one of Major League Baseball’s top run producers and can play solid defense at all three outfield positions, while also providiing power from the right side of the plate. Thomas made his Major League debut in 2019 with the St. Louis Cardinals and was traded to the Washington Nationals at the 2021 deadline for Jon Lester.
In 2024, Thomas was traded from the Nationals to the Guardians and helped Cleveland not only win the AL Central and secure the second-best record in the league, but make a run to the ALCS, where they fell three wins short of reaching the World Series for the first time since 2016.
The Royals have lacked power for quite some time, and they are going to need to address that in the offseason. If Thomas can bounce back from an injury-plagued 2025 season, he could be just what the Royals need as they try to recover from a few down offensive years.
Thomas has been in the league for several years and despite his struggles in 2025, he has turned into a fine offensive player that can bolster any lineup if given the chance. It will certainly be interesting to see what kind of attention he gets in free agency.
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