<\/p>\n
To pretty much nobody\u2019s surprise, the Randy Dobnak experiment has abruptly come to an end. The good news is that the Mariners found a buyer in the Kansas City Royals.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Dobnak had a June 15 upward mobility clause in his deal with the Mariners that forced them to make a decision. To keep him, they needed to add him to the 40-man roster, <\/a>or offer him to the other 29 teams. The Royals became that team which is probably the best outcome for the parties involved.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n He went 5-5 with a 4.24 ERA and 39 strikeouts over 70 innings in 13 games in his time with the Rainiers. That\u2019s perfectly fine production for Triple-A. But it\u2019s not like the Mariners were hurting for bodies in that part of the org.<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n We don\u2019t really need to get into how crowded the picture is for the Mariners\u2019 starting arms. Really, it\u2019s all over the media. So as much as every team likes to say there\u2019s no such thing as too much pitching, for the Mariners, there\u2019s absolutely a such thing when it\u2019s clogging up the 40-man.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n So Dobnak gets squeezed. The M\u2019s could\u2019ve valued him. In fact, they probably did. He\u2019s a decent veteran arm, and honestly, they did right by him by finding a team that could actually use him.<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Royals have been a fascinating team in recent seasons when it comes to starting pitching. If they were fully healthy, you\u2019d probably be looking at a top 10 staff with Cole Ragans as the ace, followed by Kris Bubic, Michael Wacha, Seth Lugo and some version of Noah Cameron or Stephen Kolek rounding it out. Instead, three of those arms, including Ragans, are on the IL.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n And even though Kolek is active, the Royals acquired him and Ryan Bergert from the Padres at last year\u2019s trade deadline in the Freddy Fermin deal.<\/a> And Bergert was already out for the 2026 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery, so their depth has taken some real hits.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Even though Dobnak will head to Triple-A Omaha for now,\u00a0<\/a>the Royals will probably find a window for him relatively soon. Their starters have managed to stay in the middle of the pack, ranking 14th with a 4.28 ERA, but that doesn\u2019t mean they couldn\u2019t use a little more help.<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Mariners didn\u2019t need to force a roster move because of the pressure from Dobnak. They have much bigger questions to answer.\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n And burning a 40-man spot just to hold on to a guy they were going to leave in Triple-A is pretty hard to justify.<\/p>\n <\/p>\nRandy Dobnak\u2019s Rainiers Production Wasn\u2019t Enough to Force a Mariners Roster Spot<\/h2>\n