{"id":770201,"date":"2026-08-05T00:21:29","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T00:21:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/770201\/"},"modified":"2026-08-05T00:21:29","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T00:21:29","slug":"royals-claim-connor-thomas-off-waivers-from-as","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/770201\/","title":{"rendered":"Royals Claim Connor Thomas Off Waivers From A&#8217;s"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Royals claimed left-hander <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/t\/thomaco02.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.mlbtraderumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-08-04_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Connor Thomas<\/a> off waivers and optioned him to Triple-A Omaha, per a team announcement. Kansas City had an open 40-man spot after designating <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/s\/strahma01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.mlbtraderumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-08-04_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Matt Strahm<\/a> for assignment earlier today, so no corresponding move is necessary.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas, 28, has pitched 11 2\/3 major league innings and been shelled for 27 runs in that time. That hasn\u2019t stopped the A\u2019s and now Royals from picking him up on waivers in recent weeks. Both presumably have hoped to get a look at whether Thomas can carry over his strong minor league work this year (2.09 ERA, 22.3 K%, 8.1 BB%). The A\u2019s and Braves have previously tried to slip Thomas through waivers unsuccessfully. Kansas City might now do the same, but their pitching staff is also banged up and could use the extra depth.<\/p>\n<p>The Royals recently lost <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/k\/kolekst01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.mlbtraderumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-08-04_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Stephen Kolek<\/a> for the season. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/r\/raganco01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.mlbtraderumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-08-04_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Cole Ragans<\/a> had UCL surgery earlier this summer. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/m\/marshal01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.mlbtraderumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-08-04_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Alec Marsh<\/a> hasn\u2019t pitched all season due to shoulder trouble, and young righty <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/a\/avilalu02.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.mlbtraderumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-08-04_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Luinder Avila<\/a> hit the injured list just yesterday. Depth arms like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bergery01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.mlbtraderumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-08-04_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Ryan Bergert<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/register\/player.fcgi?id=kudrna000ben&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.mlbtraderumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-08-04_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Ben Kudrna<\/a> are on the minor league injured list.<\/p>\n<p>At the moment, the Royals\u2019 three set starters are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/l\/lugose01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.mlbtraderumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-08-04_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Seth Lugo<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/w\/wachami01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.mlbtraderumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-08-04_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Michael Wacha<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/c\/camerno01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.mlbtraderumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-08-04_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Noah Cameron<\/a>. They recently called up former Twins righty <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/d\/dobnara01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.mlbtraderumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-08-04_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Randy Dobnak<\/a> to soak up some innings. Long man <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/m\/mcgeeea01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.mlbtraderumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-08-04_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Easton McGee<\/a> gives them a multi-inning option in the \u2018pen. Kansas City is going to need arms to get through the season though; Thomas can join depth options like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/s\/spencmi01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.mlbtraderumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-08-04_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Mitch Spence<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/b\/blackma01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.mlbtraderumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-08-04_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Mason Black<\/a> in helping the Royals navigate the rest of the season \u2014 or he could simply get a one-off look the next time the Royals need some length and then be designated for assignment once again. For now, he\u2019ll bide his time in Omaha.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Royals claimed left-hander Connor Thomas off waivers and optioned him to Triple-A Omaha, per a team announcement.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":770202,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2391],"tags":[537,5,12053,4,3226],"class_list":["post-770201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-athletics","tag-athletics","tag-baseball","tag-connor-thomas","tag-mlb","tag-mlb-athletics"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/117040046679629112","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=770201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770201\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/770202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=770201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=770201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=770201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}