The Royals have agreed to a one-year, $5.25 million deal with veteran outfielder Lane Thomas, sources told MLB.com's Anne Rogers and Mark Feinsand.
The club has not confirmed the contract, which is pending a physical and includes $1 million in incentives.
Thomas’ last year and a half with the Guardians had several ups and downs. After coming over in a Trade Deadline deal from the Nationals in 2024, the outfielder batted .148 in his first 29 games for Cleveland. But he turned it on in September, with a .560 slugging percentage, and Thomas’ grand slam in Game 5 of the ALDS against Detroit and Tarik Skubal helped send the Guardians to the ALCS.
There, Thomas’ double preceded a game-tying home run by Jhonkensy Noel in the bottom of the ninth in Game 3 against the Yankees, which the Guardians won in 10 innings.
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After that uneven 2024, Thomas was limited to 39 games and 125 at-bats for the Guardians in 2025, mostly due to a lingering case of plantar fasciitis in his right foot, which required surgery in September. And before that, Thomas missed a month with a right wrist bone bruise after he was hit by a pitch on the right wrist in Cleveland’s home opener. When healthy enough to play, Thomas batted just .160 with a .518 OPS and six extra-base hits.
The biggest question is if the 30-year-old Thomas can recapture the form he showed in 2023, when he hit 28 homers and stole 20 bases for Washington, to go with a .783 OPS and 3.3 WAR (per Baseball-Reference). Even if not, he can still provide value against left-handed pitchers, against whom he has a career .292/.359/.500 slash line.
Defensively, Thomas has seen time at all three outfield positions, including 276 starts in right field and 170 in center. In his last full season in 2024, he showed limited range (-8 Outs Above Average, third percentile) but an elite arm (95th percentile arm strength).
It remains to be seen how much, if at all, Thomas’ foot injury will zap him of his 94th-percentile sprint speed in limited time in 2025, but when healthy Thomas still presents a tantalizing power/speed combination that could make him more than a platoon bat.