The Mariners and right-hander Randy Dobnak have agreed to a minor league deal with an invite to big league camp, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. The righty is represented by Gaeta Sports Management.
Dobnak, 31 in January, just got to the end of an early-career extension that didn’t really pan out. Once an undrafted free agent who was playing indy ball and driving an Uber, he landed with the Twins and climbed all the way up to the majors. Over the 2019 and 2020 seasons, he tossed 75 innings for Minnesota, allowing 3.12 earned runs per nine. His 15.7% strikeout rate was pretty low but he posted a 5.7% walk rate and also got grounders at a high rate of 58.8%.
At the start of the 2021 season, the Twins and Dobnak agreed to a five-year, $9.25MM extension. From the team perspective, that was a tiny amount of money, even for a lower-spending club like the Twins. But for Dobnak, considering his humble origins, that was massive.
Unfortunately, it didn’t really work out for the club. Dobnak’s ERA shot up to 7.64 in 2021. He has largely been kept in the minors since then. He didn’t pitch in the big leagues at all in 2022 or 2023, followed by just five appearances last year and one in 2025. The Twins shipped him to the Tigers at the deadline as part of the Chris Paddack trade, seemingly just to get the remainder of the money owed to Dobnak off their books. The Tigers kept him in the minors and then declined a club option for 2026, giving Dobnak a $1MM buyout instead.
For the Mariners, there’s no harm in bringing him aboard via a minor league deal, giving them some non-roster pitching depth. Dobnak’s recent minor league work hasn’t been great but he has continued to get grounders on roughly half the balls in play he’s allowed. If he’s added to the 40-man roster at any point, he’s still optionable. That’s because the Twins usually outrighted him completely off the 40-man roster, as opposed to just optioning him to the minors.
Photo courtesy of Tim Vizer, Imagn Images
Yeah, that’s the first guy I’d sign in the off-season.
Ahh yes, such a difficult signing. Glad they got it out of the way.
“Hey man, want a job?”
“Sure!”
“Ok, sign here.”
Considering it cost us nothing and starting pitching depth was an issue for the M’s, yes actually.
As they say, “You get what you pay for.’ There are better options, even for next to nothin and this guy would be just as available in February
Who are the better options and how do you know those guys would settle for a minor league deal in November? I’m trusting Dipoto, who has consistently signed guys to minor league deals and turned them into gold. Go look at the comments when the M’s claimed Bazardo. 95% of those look pretty silly now.
Bazardo was the reason why the M’s couldn’t advance to the WS!
I think he likes the setup of Seattle and Tacoma for his Uber gig like he had with Minneapolis and St.Paul when under contract with the Twins.
Indy ball to millionaire… life is good
Hoping he would have landed with pirates. Great guy who struck it rich. Good for him
Twins version of the Phillies Kingery signing.
Raaaaaandyyyy! Seattle loves a good Redemption story. Remember Tom ‘The Bartender’ Wilhelmsen?