Unheralded Royals midseason trade has suddenly provided key solution to KC’s rotation problems

Not much has gone the way of the Kansas City Royals when it’s come to pitching this season. On the top of their list of pitching woes has been the shambolic state of their starting rotation. Cole Ragans is likely out until at least the middle of the season in 2027 after undergoing UCL surgery and Kris Bubic has been out since mid-May with elbow and shoulder ailments and could very well be on his way out the door at the end of the year in free agency. Then there’s depth arms in Stephen Kolek, Ryan Bergert and Ben Kudrna who are all on the 60-day IL themselves.

This has left Michael Wacha, Seth Lugo and Noah Cameron to occupy the bulk of the workload, leaving the Royals to patch up the rest of the staff with a band of misfits. One of those has been Randy Dobnak, whom the Royals acquired in a trade with the Seattle Mariners for cash considerations last month. While he may’ve been on the 40-man roster when he arrived, a 4.24 ERA, 1.44 WHIP and .281 BAA in Triple-A Tacoma didn’t inspire much hope beyond simply minor league cover.

However, since being called upon from Omaha at the beginning of the month, Dobnak has made four appearances and has been noting short of a worthwhile solution to the Royals’ pitching problems.

Has he been an All-Star like Michael Wacha? No. However, he’s looked every bit a reliable bottom-end rotation arm. He’s striking out less than five batters per nine innings and has a walk rate above 11%, but has managed to post just a 1.42 ERA despite that. He’s largely avoiding hits with a .239 BAA, thanks in large part to keeping the ball on the ground with a 57.4% groundball rate and avoid barrels posting just a 5% clip.

Randy Dobnak is opening countless doors for Royals as trade deadline approaches

Despite going 5-2 since baseball resumed after the All-Star break, the Royals still sit 18 games below .500 with just 58 games remaining in the season. October dreams have seemingly been out the window for them for some time now.

And with their reported reluctance to move off of names like Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha at the trade deadline in order to attempt to immediately right the wrongs of 2026 and attempt to compete again next season, the Royals will have to get creative at the trade deadline.

Dobnak is proving to be a name that perhaps could garner a return for a contending team looking for a dynamic veteran capable of starting while also holding a past track record of thriving in the bullpen, as he proved back in the late-2010s and early 2020’s with the Minnesota Twins.

However, he also provides rotational depth cover for Kansas City should they get an offer worth taking for names like Lugo or Wacha.

Simply put, Dobnak is checking all the boxes for the Royals right now. And who would’ve thought that would be the case after a small scale move for cash considerations around a month-and-a-half ago.