Rare buyers at the MLB trade deadline, the Kansas City Royals acquired shortstop Paul DeJong from the Chicago White Sox and right-handed reliever Lucas Erceg from the Oakland Athletics on Tuesday, multiple reports said.
The returns in both deals were not yet known.
DeJong is switching dugouts Tuesday afternoon before the Royals’ game at Chicago. He’ll leave the club with the worst record in baseball to join an American League Central and wild-card contender.
DeJong, who turns 31 on Friday, was in his first season with the White Sox, batting .228 with a team-high 18 home runs and 41 RBIs.
The longtime Cardinal is a career .229 hitter with 134 home runs and 385 RBIs in 831 games since breaking into the big leagues with St. Louis in 2017.
Erceg, 29, sports a 3.68 ERA with a 2-3 record and three saves through 38 appearances for Oakland in his second big-league season. Since debuting last year, he is 6-7 with a 4.32 ERA in 88 contests.