The Royals remove Robbie Grossman and Tommy Pham from waivers.
With a potential playoff berth in sight, the Kansas City Royals made a pair of claims off the waiver wire, adding outfielders Tommy Pham and Robbie Grossman on Saturday.
Both players participated in last year’s World Series, with Pham on the Arizona Diamondbacks and Grossman on the champion Texas Rangers.
Kansas City first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino broken his thumb earlier this week and is set to miss six to eight weeks.
Pham, 36, was designated for assignment by the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday. He batted .206 with two homers and 12 RBIs in 23 games for St. Louis after being acquired from the Chicago White Sox at the trade deadline. He hit .266 with five homers and 19 RBIs in 70 games with the White Sox.
Pham was in his second tour of duty with St. Louis. He was with the Cardinals from 2014 to ’18 and smacked a career-best 23 homers in 2017.
Pham is a .258 career hitter with 137 homers, 462 RBIs and 125 steals in 1,098 career games over 11 seasons. He also has played for the Tampa Bay Rays (2018-19), San Diego Padres (2020-21), Cincinnati Reds (2022), Boston Red Sox (2022) and New York Mets (2023).
Grossman, 34, was placed on waivers by the Rangers on Thursday and then started for Texas on Friday since he had yet to be claimed. He went 1-for-3 in a 9-2 loss to the Oakland Athletics.
For his 12-year career, Grossman is hitting .243 with 93 homers and 429 RBIs in 1,197 games with the Houston Astros (2013-15), Minnesota Twins (2016-18), Athletics (2019-20), Detroit Tigers (2021-22), Atlanta Braves (2022), Rangers (2023, ’24) and White Sox.
Grossman appeared in seven postseason games for the Rangers when they won the World Series in 2023.
To make room on the 40-man roster, the Royals designated for assignment two players: catcher Austin Nola and third baseman CJ Alexander. Nola, 34, was at Triple-A Omaha, while Alexander, 28, had one hit in eight at-bats for Kansas City this season.
