About The Off Day: Meanderings of My Mind

About The Off Day: Meanderings of My Mind

By Tim Kabel

May 29, 2026

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The Yankees just swept the Kansas City Royals in Kansas City and have a four-game-winning streak.  They had yesterday off before opening a three-game series tonight against the A's in Sacramento. Since I don't have a game to recap today, I will now move from topic to topic like a bee gathering nectar in a flower garden.

·      That didn't take long. When Anthony Volpe was ready to return from the IL, he was sent to Scranton because Jose Caballero had done so well that he earned the starting shortstop job. Caballero was doing well offensively, stealing bases, and playing stellar defense at shortstop. Then Caballero was injured and on May 13th, Anthony Volpe played his first Major League game of the season against the Orioles. Initially, Aaron Boone stated that Caballero would get his starting shortstop job back as soon as he was able to play. It was clearly stated that Caballero had earned that. Once Aaron Boone's tenure as Yankees manager comes to an end, he should be hired as a spokesperson for the Waffle House chain because waffling is what he does best. That definitive statement regarding Caballero being the shortstop very quickly became “we'll see”. Caballero returned from the IL and played shortstop in the two home games against Tampa Bay last weekend. Once the Yankees hit the road, it became clear that Boone’s plan from the beginning was to give the shortstop job back to Volpe. Caballero will now bounce around and play multiple positions. Accepting Aaron Boone’s word on anything is like building a house on a pile of sand. Don't get too comfortable. I know a lot of people are saying that Volpe is really doing well since his return. In a way, he is. He has shown improvement offensively. However, when you look a little deeper there are still some issues. Volpe has played 11 games since his return. He has nine hits including one home run and seven RBI in 35 at bats. Those nine hits were accumulated in five games. He was hitless in the other six games. Four of the nine hits were in the recent series against Kansas City. The Yankees scored fifteen runs against Kansas City on Tuesday. The offensive statistics that Volpe and the other Yankees piled up against the Royals are legitimate. They do count. They just need to be taken with a grain of salt because the Yankees swept the season series from the Royals and have won their last fourteen games in a row against them. Volpe was clearly installed as the starting shortstop very quickly. At the first opportunity, Boone made the move. I do not think the reverse will be true. In other words, if Volpe struggles moving forward as the starting shortstop, I do not think he will be removed as quickly as he was implanted in the lineup. It will take the jaws of life to remove him from the starting lineup at this point. I am more inclined to expect what I saw from Anthony Volpe for the last three seasons as opposed to what I saw in the last three games against Kansas City. I'm sure Caballero will play a great deal. He can fill in around the diamond. It is unclear if Volpe could do that because the concept of moving Volpe to other positions never moved past the discussion stage. Let's face facts. All that talk from Boone about Caballero earning the shortstop position was just talk. For the rest of this season and possibly beyond, Anthony Volpe will be the starting shortstop. If and when he reverts to his mediocre level of play over the long haul, it won't matter. So, get used to it.

·      I have been watching a lot of videos online about horrible things that have happened to people in nature or the wilderness. I'm preparing to write a book a novel about a support group for people who have suffered unfortunate injuries or tragic mishaps while encountering wildlife. The universal theme throughout all these stories is that common sense is not very common. People will go for a hike in bear country and will carry a can of bear spray with them. Unfortunately, it is almost always in the bottom of a backpack still in its original packaging. Other people will decide it's a good idea to attempt to stalk a mother grizzly bear and her cubs to get a perfect picture. There was one story about a woman who visited a gorilla at a zoo in Germany four times a week for eleven years and simply stared at him and smiled for quite a long time during each visit. She was convinced that she and the gorilla were “friends.” Unfortunately, she never realized that staring and smiling at a gorilla is perceived by the gorilla as an attempt at dominance and a threat. Eventually the poor gorilla was transferred to a zoo in Rotterdam and must have thought that he had escaped his tormentor. Unfortunately, the woman followed him there and proceeded to do the same thing. One day after being taunted and pelted with rocks by teenagers, the gorilla decided that enough was enough and escaped from his enclosure. After his admirer finished her daily staring and smiling session, the gorilla scaled the wall of his enclosure, jumped over an electric fence, and then proceeded to attack her. He shattered one of her arms and proceeded to bite her over a hundred times. Miraculously, she survived. They returned the gorilla to his enclosure which was reinforced. The woman continued to visit him for several years, continuing her ritual of staring and smiling until the gorilla eventually died during a medical procedure. Every year we hear about people who decide to try to pet the bison in Yellowstone National Park or feed a grizzly bear a ham sandwich. I have no idea why people would think these are good ideas. I'm just happy that I am not one of those people.

·       Gerrit Cole has been remarkable in his return from surgery. He has pitched 2 games and is 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA. He has pitched 12.2 innings with 12 strikeouts and 3 walks.  He has allowed 6 hits. So far, he appears to be as good as ever. However, it is only two games. We need to see how he holds up for the rest of the season. In addition, Cole is unlikely to pitch complete games, and definitely not every time. That means the bullpen will factor into most games, which could be a problem. Also, the offense which can be unreliable, particularly when the Yankees are not playing Kansas City, will need to produce consistently. The Yankees do not need to waste performances by Cole, Schlittler, and Max Fried in particular. It is great to have Cole back performing at such a high level. Hopefully, the Yankees can take full advantage of it.

·      The Yankees passed on Munetaka Murakami along with 28 other teams. Everyone focused on his perceived shortcomings. He currently has twenty home runs and forty RBI. His twenty home runs are the most ever by a rookie before June in the modern era. He is 26 years old it appears to be a shoe in for the AL Rookie of the Year. He signed a two-year deal with the White Sox. Murakami has helped lead a resurgence in Chicago. The White Sox are in second place in the AL Central and are only one game below .500. They are currently in second place in the Wild Card race, behind the Yankees. It would be easy for the Yankees to say that they will wait and try to sign him when his contract is up with the White Sox. I think at this point, the Yankees should instead approach the White Sox about a trade for Murakami and cut bait on Giancarlo Stanton. Once they acquire Murakami, they should sign him to an extension. It will wind up costing them more than if they had just signed him in the first place but, he could certainly flourish even more than he already has with the short porch in right field at Yankee Stadium. It is unclear when Stanton will return and how effective he will be. We all know the injuries will resurface  and there will be one more year of this. The Yankees should swallow hard and make the bold move to acquire Murakami.