The Detroit Tigers have made a trade.
The Tigers acquired right-handers Chris Paddack and Randy Dobnak from the Minnesota Twins on Monday, July 28 — just three days before the MLB trade deadline, which is set for 6 p.m. Thursday, July 31. Although Paddack becomes a free agent after 2025, Dobnak has team options for 2026, 2027 and 2028.
Trading for Paddack was sparked by right-hander Reese Olson suffering a right shoulder strain. He has been ruled out for the remainder of the regular season, but there’s still a chance he returns for the postseason.
“It’s really an unfortunate piece of news for Reese,” Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris said. “We really feel for him. But we are excited to strengthen our pitching before the trade deadline, and we’re really excited to add Chris to the mix.”
To add those pitchers, the Tigers traded away switch-hitting catcher Enrique Jimenez. The 19-year-old ranked as the Tigers’ No. 14 prospect (before becoming the Twins’ No. 20 prospect), according to MLB Pipeline.
Jimenez is hitting .250 with six home runs, 23 walks and 42 strikeouts over 48 games in the Florida Complex League — his second season at that level. He signed out of Venezuela for $1.25 million in January 2023 as part of international signing period.
It was the largest bonus the Tigers dished out in the 2023 international class.
“You never want to trade a young player, but you have to give up something to get something,” Harris said. “We felt like, given our needs in the rotation, especially after the Reese news, that it was something we had to give up to add a starter to our mix.”
Paddack has a 4.95 ERA with 27 walks and 83 strikeouts over 111 innings in 21 starts in the 2025 season, all with the Twins. The 29-year-old owns a 4.49 ERA in his seven-year MLB career, spanning 106 games (103 starts).
He is scheduled to start for the Tigers on Wednesday, July 30, against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Comerica Park.
The Olson injury led to the Paddack trade.
“As soon as I heard about Reese, I wanted to make sure that we could strengthen our rotation,” Harris said. “We wish we could have added Chris and kept Reese, but that just wasn’t in the cards for us.”
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Dobnak, 30, has spent all but one game in 2025 with Triple-A St. Paul, registering a 7.12 ERA with 35 walks and 42 strikeouts over 60⅔ innings in 17 games (10 starts). At the MLB level, he has appeared in 39 games (21 starts) in parts of five seasons, logging a 4.86 ERA.
He will report to Triple-A Toledo.
“It’s a guy who has pitched in the big leagues,” Harris said of Dobnak, whom he described as depth. “This time of year, we want to get as much pitching as we can.”
Dobnak has three team options: $6 million in 2026 (with a $1 million buyout), $7 million in 2027 (with a $100,000 buyout) and $8.5 million in 2028 (with a $100,000 buyout). He appears to be a project for the Tigers’ pitching department.
But Paddack will try to help the Tigers win in 2025.
“We really like his fastball,” Harris said of Paddack. “He is a plus strike-thrower with at least plus extension. We feel like he has the weapons to attack hitters in different ways.”
Paddack, a fly-ball pitcher, features a six-pitch mix: four-seam fastball, changeup, slider, curveball, cutter and sinker. His fastball averages 93.8 mph; both his changeup and slider have below-average whiff rates.
He ranks in the 87th percentile with a 5.7% walk rate, but he is in the 19th percentile with a 17.6% strikeout rate and the 21st percentile with a 21.2% whiff rate.
“He makes hitters uncomfortable,” Harris said. “He goes right after hitters. That’s always been our pitching philosophy. We think he’s going to fit in really well here.”
Paddack was selected by the Miami Marlins in the eighth round of the 2015 draft from Cedar Park High School in Texas. He has pitched for the San Diego Padres (2019-21) and Twins (2022-25) throughout his MLB career.
He has been involved in three trades: from the Marlins to the Padres for Fernando Rodney in June 2016, from the Padres to the Twins in the Brent Rooker trade in April 2022, and now from the Twins to the Tigers in July 2025.
Paddack had a 4.97 ERA in 38 starts for the Twins in the 2024 and 2025 seasons.
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers trade for Chris Paddack, Randy Dobnak from Minnesota Twins
Reporting by Evan Petzold, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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