The First Twins' Reinforcement in the Season is ........Darren McCaughan?

[stringer bell]

The Twins DFA's Randy Dobnak after he saved the bullpen in their latest loss in St. Louis. Given the rules in place, the move makes sense, despite Dobnak's contribution to the Twins. Dobnak's replacement is another guy who hasn't had much major league success but who is capable of throwing several innings if the call to the bullpen comes early. 

Welcome to the Twins Darren McCaughan. I hope your stay is short and uneventful unless there is more quality in your arm than you've demonstrated over the years.

[DJL44]

It looks like the last spot in the bullpen is designated for pitchers nobody wants until we see Tonkin or Stewart return. We may see Ynoa next if McCaughan pitches in this series. 

[nicksaviking]

That works for me.

It's not like the non-40 man options in AAA and the options on the waiver wire tend to be any different. 

[shortround81]

Joey Gallo's available to pitch. Bet we can get him pretty cheap 🤣

[Linus]

This business of shuttling guys up for one outing and then sending them down the road should be stopped.  Perhaps there needs to be a required minimum stay barring injury.  

[USAFChief]

1 hour ago, Linus said:

This business of shuttling guys up for one outing and then sending them down the road should be stopped.  Perhaps there needs to be a required minimum stay barring injury.  

They get two weeks pay.

 

[East Coast Twin]

4 hours ago, nicksaviking said:

That works for me.

It's not like the non-40 man options in AAA and the options on the waiver wire tend to be any different. 

Is Dobnak required to stay in the minors for 15 days before he can be recalled, like an optioned pitcher is?

[jorgenswest]

6 hours ago, DJL44 said:

It looks like the last spot in the bullpen is designated for pitchers nobody wants until we see Tonkin or Stewart return. We may see Ynoa next if McCaughan pitches in this series. 

Don’t many teams use that last spot as their long reliever? Sometimes they have a player in that role on options. Sometimes it is a player they are willing to DFA after a long outing. Is Ynoa a pitcher that they should be willing to DFA when they need help in the pen?

[Autist75]

     It's just a total joke to get rid of Randy Dobnak after he was, literally, one of the ONLY bright spots for the team this last weekend.  This team's stupidity knows no bounds...

[Richie the Rally Goat]

16 minutes ago, Autist75 said:

     It's just a total joke to get rid of Randy Dobnak after he was, literally, one of the ONLY bright spots for the team this last weekend.  This team's stupidity knows no bounds...

This is exactly why he was tendered the $10m contract. No one will claim him because they don’t want to pay him, and Dobnak wont reject the outright assignment, because he wont get better money elsewhere. There’s nothing here to be upset about, from Dobnak’s perspective he gets paid life changing money whether it’s for the Twins or the Saints

[nicksaviking]

24 minutes ago, Autist75 said:

     It's just a total joke to get rid of Randy Dobnak after he was, literally, one of the ONLY bright spots for the team this last weekend.  This team's stupidity knows no bounds...

Pretty sure you missed the point of the post. 

The Twins would have been stupid if they would let him waste a roster spot they couldn't use for 3-4 days.

What you mean is the Twins callousness knows no bounds.

Which is also wrong. Dobnak has been paid a MLB salary for several years now; being removed from the 26-man is hardly the indignity being presented here. So what? Players are always removed from the 26-man all the time. Keeping him on to cater to his ego (I doubt it bothers him, it probably just bothers the Dobnak fans actually) would be a slap in the face to the other 25 players who presumably prefer to win games over playing favorites.

[nicksaviking]

Twins: "Hey Randy, you pitched well, but now you're out of commission for the better part of a week, and we both know that's an issue for a relief pitcher. Will you be offended if we remove you from the 26-man so we can add someone to hopefully get us a win finally?"

Dobnak: "No, that doesn't offend me, I want to win too. What offends me is that you think my ego is so fragile that you thought this would be an issue."

[Vanimal46]

6 hours ago, Linus said:

This business of shuttling guys up for one outing and then sending them down the road should be stopped.  Perhaps there needs to be a required minimum stay barring injury.  

Why? Nothing in Randy Dobnak’s life changes with this. Him or anyone else on the AAAA shuttle only adds 20 minutes of commute time to their day. 

[Linus]

1 hour ago, Vanimal46 said:

Why? Nothing in Randy Dobnak’s life changes with this. Him or anyone else on the AAAA shuttle only adds 20 minutes of commute time to their day. 

I’m talking league wide not Dobnak 

[Vanimal46]

4 minutes ago, Linus said:

I’m talking league wide not Dobnak 

And how many players league wide are in the same situation as Dobnak?

[Schmoeman5]

Was he in the original night stalker?

[Doctor Wu]

18 hours ago, Linus said:

This business of shuttling guys up for one outing and then sending them down the road should be stopped.  Perhaps there needs to be a required minimum stay barring injury.  

I agree, There needs to be some sort of rule to prevent these types of silly transactions. They now have new rules regarding the use of relief pitchers, so why not some sort of sensible (or one that is at least fair to the players) way to manage rosters?

[Parfigliano]

13 hours ago, Richie the Rally Goat said:

This is exactly why he was tendered the $10m contract. No one will claim him because they don’t want to pay him, and Dobnak wont reject the outright assignment, because he wont get better money elsewhere. There’s nothing here to be upset about, from Dobnak’s perspective he gets paid life changing money whether it’s for the Twins or the Saints

It's the Dobnak family winning lottery ticket.

[Parfigliano]

6 hours ago, Schmoeman5 said:

Was he in the original night stalker?

That was Richard Ramirez.

[Linus]

11 hours ago, Vanimal46 said:

And how many players league wide are in the same situation as Dobnak?

I am specifically referring to pitchers who are making league minimum or close to it. I am not worried about Dobnak - he’s got his money no matter where he pitches. The bigger issue for me is allows teams to have a 15 or more pitcher bullpen which directly evades the 13 pitcher limit. Bigger bullpens mean shorter starts, more three true outcomes etc etc

[Vanimal46]

27 minutes ago, Linus said:

I am specifically referring to pitchers who are making league minimum or close to it. I am not worried about Dobnak - he’s got his money no matter where he pitches. The bigger issue for me is allows teams to have a 15 or more pitcher bullpen which directly evades the 13 pitcher limit. Bigger bullpens mean shorter starts, more three true outcomes etc etc

They have an options limit of 5 times per season, then the pitcher has to go through waivers. 

[Linus]

Just now, Vanimal46 said:

They have an options limit of 5 times per season, then the pitcher has to go through waivers. 

I understand the rules, they are minimal in my view. Apparently we disagree which is fine - enjoy the game tonight. 

[Schmoeman5]

5 hours ago, Parfigliano said:

That was Richard Ramirez.

The TV show???

[nicksaviking]

6 hours ago, Doctor Wu said:

I agree, There needs to be some sort of rule to prevent these types of silly transactions. They now have new rules regarding the use of relief pitchers, so why not some sort of sensible (or one that is at least fair to the players) way to manage rosters?

I don't get why it's not fair to the players though. One guy goes down, but correspondingly, another guy comes up. Why aren't we happy for that guy instead? 

This only happens because of the goofy mascot kind of situation Dobnak is in. Also happened with the 'He's back after all these years!" human interet story of Michael Tonkin too. I bet I won't find a thread like this last year for Daniel Durate, Caleb Boushely or Diego Castillo though.

[Parfigliano]

1 hour ago, Schmoeman5 said:

The TV show???

LA and San Fran serial killer in '84-85.

[DocBauer]

Darren McGavin played Kolchak, the night stalker in the 70's TV show.

[Schmoeman5]

21 minutes ago, DocBauer said:

Darren McGavin played Kolchak, the night stalker in the 70's TV show.

Thanks Doc! It went over the whippersnappers. 😄 

[laloesch]

On 3/31/2025 at 7:33 PM, Autist75 said:

     It's just a total joke to get rid of Randy Dobnak after he was, literally, one of the ONLY bright spots for the team this last weekend.  This team's stupidity knows no bounds...

I don't think so.  He's getting paid 10 million dollars to shuttle back and forth to AAA to open up a roster spot when he's not needed.  I'd take that deal every day of the week and twice on Sunday if I was in his shoes.

[stringer bell]

Every pitcher in McCaughan's position is happy to get the major league service time and eventually he'll get a chance to audition for 30 big league teams for a more permanent role. Dobnak's position is slightly different because of his contract. He will accept DFA after DFA and remain in the Twins organization unless another club wants to take on his contract.