Tigers add Paddack to boost rotation with Olson out for regular season

DETROIT -- The Tigers swung their first significant deal leading into Thursday’s Trade Deadline by acquiring right-handers Chris Paddack and Randy Dobnak from the Twins for catching prospect Enrique Jimenez. Paddack will be filling an unforeseen void in the Tigers’ rotation by replacing Reese Olson, who will miss at least the rest of the regular season with a right shoulder strain.

Paddack will make his Tigers debut on Wednesday, starting in place of Olson, who was placed on the 60-day injured list on Monday. Dobnak will report to Triple-A Toledo, where the Mud Hens will host his previous team, St. Paul, beginning Tuesday night.

TRADE DETAILS
Tigers receive: RHP Chris Paddack, RHP Randy Dobnak
Twins receive: C Enrique Jimenez, Tigers' No. 14 prospect

Paddack is in the final season of a three-year, $12.53 million contract he signed with the Twins. The 29-year-old right-hander has a 4.95 ERA and 4.39 FIP in 21 starts for Minnesota, allowing 115 hits over 111 innings with 27 walks and 83 strikeouts. While his 9.3 hits per nine innings mark his lowest rate over a full season since his rookie campaign of 2019, his 6.7 K/9 rate is the lowest of his career.

"I don't know if it was pitching well against the Dodgers that put me on the radar or what it was,” Paddack told Twins reporters after the deal. “But my goal … was to grab the ball every fifth day, whatever that looked like, and I feel like I've done a really good job with that this year.

"I've had some good outings, some bad ones, and some ones I don't even want to look at the line because it's a lot of crooked numbers. But I kept my head down, came into the clubhouse every day, and stayed consistent in my routine. And I'm going to continue that over in Detroit.”

Paddack’s up-and-down season began with nine runs allowed over 3 1/3 innings to the White Sox on March 31, turned with a 2.51 ERA over his next 12 starts, then took a turn for the worse with an 8.55 ERA over his next seven outings. He rebounded in his last start by tossing six innings of one-run ball with no walks and eight strikeouts against the Dodgers last Wednesday.

“With Chris, we really like his fastball,” Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris said. “He's a plus strike thrower with at least plus extension. We feel like he has the weapons to attack hitters in different ways. We feel like he fits our ballpark really well, and he makes hitters uncomfortable. He goes right after hitters. That's always been our pitching philosophy, and we think he's going to fit in really well here.”

While the Tigers were expected to explore the starting pitching market leading into the Trade Deadline, it wasn’t expected to be a priority for them. They’d been pleased with their rotation that included Tarik Skubal, Jack Flaherty, Casey Mize and Olson, all of whom logically could fit into a postseason rotation. Then Olson, who had been solid since his return from right finger inflammation a few weeks ago until a five-run sixth inning last Thursday against the Blue Jays, reported shoulder soreness during his throwing session on Saturday.

“In the bullpen, he revealed that he had some shoulder discomfort,” Harris said. “He took an MRI, which showed a shoulder strain. We're not completely through our medical evaluation right now. We have some more tests scheduled for [Tuesday] before we can fully announce everything that happened. But the MRI revealed enough to rule him out for the rest of the regular season.”

It’s a devastating development for Olson, who turns 26 on Thursday and had emerged as a key part of the Tigers’ long-term pitching plans since his debut two years ago. He was 4-4 with a 3.15 ERA in 13 starts this season, and has a 3.60 ERA in 56 career appearances. But injuries, including right shoulder inflammation that sidelined him for a couple of months last summer, have arguably slowed his development.

“I feel for Reese,” manager A.J. Hinch said, “because I see his routines, I see him work, I see him throw, I see him dominate. And both the last two seasons have kind of ended on the workload part. He hasn’t even exceeded where he’s been before. He was exceeding these innings [totals] in the Minor Leagues. There’s no reason why he is getting hit with the injury bug more than anybody else.

“So it’s a tough blow to a rotation that set up great with Jack the way he was [Sunday], Tarik obviously at the top. Casey makes the All-Star team. … It’s hard losing Reese Olson. He’s a huge, huge guy that I trust. We need to get him fully evaluated first. If he can give us something later, like he did last season, great. If not, we need to get him fully healthy.”

The 19-year-old Jimenez was one of the Tigers’ top international signings two years ago. The switch-hitting catcher spent the past couple of seasons at the rookie-level Florida Complex League. But while he was the Tigers’ No. 13 prospect, he was further down the pecking order in a system that has top catching prospects in MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 in Josue Briceño (No. 51) and Thayron Liranzo (No. 77), plus a new catching prospect in supplemental first-round Draft pick Michael Oliveto.

“We like the swings on both sides,” Harris said. “You can never have enough catching depth, so it's tough to lose a catcher. But we did just take a catcher in the Draft. We have a couple of pretty famous [catching] prospects coming through the system that we're excited about. We've got a couple really good catchers here, so we felt like given our needs in the rotation, especially after Reese, that it was something we had to give up."