Braves miss out on another easy offensive upgrade at worst time

The 2024 season has been quite a roller coaster ride for Tommy Pham. He ended up with the Chicago White Sox to begin the season and he wasn't that bad. He slashed .266/.330/.380 with an OPS above league average for the last-place White Sox.

Obviously, the White Sox dealt their expiring veteran at the trade deadline, where Pham landed with the St. Louis Cardinals as they looked to make a serious playoff push. Pham got off to a hot start with the Cardinals, but quickly cooled off, posting a batting average right around .200 in 23 games. This led to the Cardinals designating him for assignment and placing him on waivers.

There was a ton of speculation about where he could land, with the Atlanta Braves looking like one of the favorites. Atlanta would be a good fit to add Pham as a depth piece in their outfield.

For more news and rumors, check out MLB Insider Robert Murray’s work on The Baseball Insiders podcast, subscribe to The Moonshot, our weekly MLB newsletter, and join the discord to get the inside scoop between now and the MLB offseason.

Potential Braves waiver target Tommy Pham is picked up by Royals

But it wasn't the Braves that ended up landing Pham. According to Cardinals insider Katie Woo, Pham was claimed off waivers by the Kansas City Royals.

Pham has now gone from one of the worst teams in the history of baseball to a borderline .500 team and now to a team that's competing for a division title. I don't think Pham will be complaining about any of this. I'd call it an upgrade, to say the least.

The Royals desperately needed to add some kind of run production too. Just recently, Kansas City was given the news that they would miss their main run producer, Vinnie Pasquantino, for the next six to eight weeks with a broken thumb. Pasquantino was closing in on 100 RBIs on the campaign despite some inconsistent on-base numbers.

Pham will slot into the lineup, likely just against left-handed pitchers, and look to be one of the more consistent run producers for the Royals.

I would be surprised if the Braves didn't make a run at picking the veteran outfielder up. It's very likely that Atlanta submitted a claim for him as well. Unfortunately for Atlanta, they didn't manage to land him and they will continue to have to string together offensive performance this season.