Outfielder Lane Thomas agrees to $5.25 million, 1-year deal with Royals, AP source says

Outfielder Lane Thomas and the Kansas City Royals have agreed to a $5.25 million, one-year contract, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity Thursday because the agreement, first reported by The Athletic, was subject to a successful physical.

Thomas can earn an additional $1 million in performance bonuses.

He had nine RBIs for Cleveland in the 2024 AL Division Series against Detroit but hit .160 with four homers and 11 RBIs in 125 at-bats over 39 games this year in an injury-decimated season with Cleveland. He batted .268 for Washington in 2023, when he set career bests with 28 homers, 86 RBIs and 20 stolen bases.

Thomas didn’t play between April 8 and 15 this year because of a bone bruise in his right wrist sustained when hit by a pitch from Shane Smith of the Chicago White Sox and between April 19 and May 22 because of the same injury. He was out between May 26 and June 9 due to plantar fasciitis in his right foot.

He played his last big league game of the season on July 4, then was sidelined again because of the foot injury, though he did appear in three Double-A games from Sept. 2-5 as part of an injury rehabilitation assignment. He has surgery on Sept. 23,

A year earlier, he hit a tiebreaking grand slam off Detroit ace Tarik Skubal in Game 5 on an AL Wild Card Series.

Thomas had a $7,825,000 salary in a one-year contract that avoided salary arbitration. He became a free agent last month.

Now 30, Thomas has a .242 average with 65 homers and 254 RBIs in seven seasons with St. Louis (2019-21), Washington (2021-24) and the Guardians, who acquired him from the Nationals ahead of the 2024 trade deadline for infielder José Tena, left-hander Alex Clemmey and infielder Rafael Ramirez Jr.

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FILE – Cleveland Guardians’ Lane Thomas (8) celebrates after hitting a solo home run during the second inning of a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs, July 2, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley, File)

TORONTO (AP) — A Canadian man who died in 2019 has been identified as the perpetrator of three cold case homicides in Toronto, and investigators believe there could be more victims.

Toronto police said Thursday recent forensic testing and genetic genealogy has conclusively identified Kenneth Smith, 72, of Windsor, Ontario, as the person who killed two women in the 1980s and a third woman in the 1990s.

They say the first woman, Christine Prince, 25, was found dead on June 22, 1982, in the Rouge River in Toronto after she was sexually assaulted and struck on the head.

Police say Claire Samson, 23, was found dead with gunshot wounds in Oro-Medonte Township on Sept. 1, 1983.

They say the third victim, 41-year-old Gracelyn Greenidge, died of blunt force trauma in her Toronto apartment on July 29, 1997.

Police said Smith lived and worked in Toronto at the time of the homicides and had a history of sexual assault, and investigators believe there could be more victims.

Genetic genealogy has increasingly been used to track down unidentified criminal suspects and help solve scores of cold cases in recent years, some of them more than a half-century old or involving other serial killers. It unmasked the Golden State Killer, Joseph DeAngelo, who pleaded guilty to 13 murders and 13 rape-related charges that spanned much of California between 1975 and 1986.

Police can create a DNA profile to upload to public DNA databases and compare it to other profiles, helping to trace individuals within a family tree.

Ontario Provincial Police Chief Supt. Karen Gonneau said as DNA technology advanced police reviewed a number of unsolved homicides. It wasn’t until 2017 that they linked a suspect to all three women.

Toronto Police Det. Sgt. Steve Smith said they were able to identify close relatives of the offender. And he said with that information the center of forensic science was then able to conduct the final comparison that led to the conclusive identification of Smith.

He said Smith lived and worked in Toronto during the period of all three murders. He was known to police and had a history of sexual assault.

“Based on the evidence we have today we believe it is possible that there may be additional victims who have never been identified,” Smith said.

He said Smith was never investigated for these murders previously. He also said he had been jailed at least once before the first two murders and twice before Greenidge’s murder.