Royals to Acquire Pitcher Randy Dobnak

On Wednesday afternoon, the MLB insider Jeff Passan reported that the Royals would be acquiring right-handed pitcher Randy Dobnak from the Seattle Mariners. Dobnak has not pitched with the Mariners and has spent the entirety of the season in Triple-A Tacoma.

The 31-year-old pitcher is expected to be added to the 40-man roster.

Dobnak should be familiar with Royals fans as he spent most of his career with the Minnesota Twins prior to this season. Last year, he only made one 5.1 IP appearance with the Twins and posted a 1.69 ERA. 

This year, with the Tacoma Rainiers, the Mariners' Triple-A team, he posted a 4.24 ERA and 1.44 WHIP in 70 IP. He also has a 4.06 FIP and 4.9% K-BB%. While he doesn't generate a ton of whiffs or strikeouts, Donbnak minimizes hard contact and is a groundball machine, as evidenced by his 66.5% groundball rate and .334 xwOBACON. 

The move has not been made official, and no word has been mentioned about who Dobnak would replace on the 40-man roster. One possibility could be moving Cole Ragans to the 60-Day IL, as he has not been progressing well with his injury since being added to the 15-Day IL, according to recent reports. 

The Royals come back home to Kauffman Stadium on Thursday to begin a three-game series against the I-70 rival, the St. Louis Cardinals. They will play on Thursday, Friday, and Sunday. There will be no game on Saturday due to the World Cup match between Ecuador and Curacao at Kansas City Stadium (i.e., Arrowhead Stadium).

Update (6:53 PM): The Royals announced the deal officially on their social media. In a corresponding move, they added Ragans to the 60-Day IL to make room for Dobnak.

Dobnak gives the Royals some much-needed starting pitching depth with Ragans on the 60-Day IL and Kris Bubic's future on the IL still hazy. They recently called up Mitch Spence from Omaha to make a spot start, and he allowed six runs on seven hits and one walk in four innings of work in Monday's loss to the Nationals. Spence was optioned back to Omaha after Monday's appearance.