Mariners reportedly sign veteran pitcher and World Series winner

The Mariners have signed former Rangers starter Dane Dunning to a minor league deal, which should include an invite to spring training.

We’re now three weeks away from pitchers and catchers reporting to Peoria, Arizona, and Seattle Mariners fans are still waiting for the organization to make another big move to compliment the signing of Josh Naylor to a long-term deal. In the meantime, one move they have made is to agree terms with a pitcher who has experience of winning the World Series.

As originally reported by Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com, the Mariners have signed Dane Dunning to a minor league deal, which will more than likely include an invite to spring training. He was a regular starter for four years with AL West rivals the Texas Rangers, helping them win their first World Series in 2023.

From an experience standpoint Dunning makes for an intriguing addition by the Mariners. He made 95 starts during his time in Texas, although he began to split time out of the rotation and as a reliever in 2023 and was purely a bullpen guy last year, for the Rangers and then the Atlanta Braves.

Dave Dunning reaches his peak in 2023

Interestingly, 2023 was the best season to date of Dunning’s six years in the majors as he set a whole host of career-bests, including a 2.7 bWAR, 12 wins, 3.70 ERA, 172.2 innings pitched, 140 strikeouts, 116 ERA+ and 2.9 walks per nine innings. He also pitched 2.1 scoreless innings over three appearances during the World Series versus the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Dunning enjoyed a fine college career at the University of Florida, producing a 12-6 record, 3.26 ERA and 1.098 WHIP in 163.0 combined innings over three seasons. This led to the Washington Nationals selecting him 29th overall in the first round of the 2016 draft, although he was then traded to the Chicago White Sox later on that same year.

Mariners have a lot of work to do

Considered a top prospect by the White Sox, Dunning showed promise after making his Major League debut in 2020, before being traded to the Rangers following the conclusion of the season. The big question now is if the Mariners can revitalize a pitcher who has struggled tremendously the last couple of years, although Jerry Dipoto and company do have a positive track record with similar reclamation projects.

Last year specifically saw the righty produce an unsightly -0.4b WAR, 6.97 ERA, 5.07 FIP and 1.500 WHIP across 12 combined relief appearances for the Rangers and Braves. He spent more of his time in Triple A Round Rock and then Gwinnett following his trade to Atlanta, starting in a combined 14 of the 18 games he played.

In his respect, it will be interesting to see what Dunning’s role will be with the Mariners organization, but we suspect he will split time as a starter and reliever, at least to begin with. Projections vary for what kind of impact he will have in 2026, with Baseball Reference predicting a 4.57 ERA over 61.0 innings and FanGraphs steamer calculating a 3.64 ERA in 12.0 innings.

Photos court​‌esy of Tim Rogers Photography

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