About The Off-Day: Meanderings of My Mind

About The Off-Day: Meanderings of My Mind

By Tim Kabel

August 11, 2026

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The Yankees were off yesterday after splitting the first six games of this nine-game homestand. They lost two of three to the Cardinals and won two of three from the Braves. They will now face the Mariners for three games before heading off to Toronto. The Yankees have been stuck in neutral for over two months. That's most of the season. They need to shift into that next gear if they are going to make it into the playoffs and hopefully do so in a desirable position. The division is slipping away from them. So, it now becomes a question of which Wild Card position if any will the Yankees get. They need to win consistently and that will require them to score more runs than they have been. It seems like they have a daily quota of two runs and once they reach that total, everything shuts down. That can’t continue as they head down the stretch or they will be sitting home watching the playoffs on TV. Since I don't have a game to recap, I will now move from topic to topic as if I was at my local bookstore perusing the selection of books written by our esteemed leader, Dr. Semendinger.

·      The Yankees Have 44 games left in the season. They are basically in the home stretch. Their current record is 66-52. They are in second place in the American League East, trailing the Tampa Bay Rays by 5 1/2 games. The Yankees are just 1 1/2 games ahead of the Red Sox, and one game in the loss column. While the Yankees were off yesterday, both the Rays and the Red Sox played, I wrote this long before either of those games occurred and not having my crystal ball handy, I don't know who won. If both the Red Sox and Rays won last night, then the Yankees have sunk even further behind the Rays and closer to the Red Sox. Since June 1st, which is also the day that Aaron Judge left the lineup, the Yankees have been a mediocre team, hovering at the .500 mark. I have characterized this as the annual Boone-Swoon and have stated that it has gone on longer than it usually does. The Boone apologists, or as I am now labeling them, the Boone-dogglers from the Boone-docks, quickly point out that the main cause for this “slight slump” is the fact that the best player in the American League is on the IL. That may be true, but this is not Aaron Boone’s first rodeo. Boone-Swoons happen every year regardless of whether Aaron Judge or anyone else is injured. That's what reinforces my contention that the Yankees will never win the World Series with Aaron Boone as the manager. I suspect that even if Aaron Judge returns this season, the Yankees will come up short once again. I think that needs to be the final straw for Aaron Boone. He has managed this team for nine years without winning. It's time to give someone else a chance. Let's start off next season with a fully recovered Aaron Judge and a fully broken in George Lombard, junior along with a starting rotation that will hopefully be fully healed and ready to go. Whether it's Shelley Duncan or someone else, there needs to be a new manager going into next year so that the Yankees can finally provide Aaron Judge with a legitimate chance to win a World Series.

·      I would like to revisit the whole kerfuffle involving Martha Reeves singing the national anthem at the inaugural game of the Women's Professional Baseball League. Since the event occurred and Martha sang the anthem or as one critic called it, “The Star Mangled Banner” Martha has been doing multiple interviews. The consistent theme in all of them is that she was an unwitting victim of incompetent and malicious backup singers. Martha claims that she had no idea that there would be backup singers or who they were or even why they were there. She claimed that that is what caused the performance that many of us heard and will require intensive therapy to recover from. Unfortunately for Martha, there is quite a bit of footage of her rehearsing with and then berating those same backup singers. Anyway, Martha is quite adamant in saying that the entire debacle is the fault of those backup singers and that they have sullied her reputation. Apparently, Martha is now going to change the name of her group to Martha and the Vendettas.

·      George Lombard, junior has officially arrived in the Major Leagues. He has played five games so far. He has made some sparkling plays in the field and is batting.294 with 2 home runs and a 1.047 OPS. Yet, when I read comments that are posted online, I am amazed. Some people have actually complained that Lombard’s bat needs to be more consistent. He has played five games. He has seventeen at bats. That is a minuscule sample size. And again, it's not as if he has struggled. He has five hits. I don't know what some people are looking for. I think Lombard has been exactly as advertised, if not even a little better. He looks as if he belongs in the Major Leagues. He conducts himself perfectly and really seems to have tremendous instincts as to how to play the game. Now, will he have a slump.? Most likely. Everyone does. However, he seems to be the type of player who will make the necessary adjustments to get out of that slump. I anticipate that the Yankees will give Lombard a long leash. After all, they did it for Anthony Volpe and I think it's fair to say that Lombard is a more highly regarded prospect. After all, they were selling number 96 jerseys in the Yankee Stadium store on Lombard’s second day in the Major Leagues. I may consider getting one.

·      This will be my last article for a couple of weeks. I have finally received medical clearance to go on vacation. This will be the first trip I have taken since 2019. I'm taking my wife and my sons on a cruise. My sons and I have been on them before, but my wife never has, so I am looking forward to watching her enjoy the experience. I have decided to embrace the whole vacation concept and I won't even be bringing my laptop, so I won't do any writing at all for those eight days. I will however bring some books and do some reading. I am very interested to see where the Yankees will be in the standings when I return. Not to be a Negative Ned, but I would not be surprised to find them in 3rd place in the American League East.

·      There has been a lot of speculation about the players who will be returning to the Yankees from the IL. There are no concrete dates for any of them. Many people have speculated that Giancarlo Stanton will be the first one back. I don't know if I fully believe that because although he reportedly took batting practice, no one really knows how it went or what he did. There was some thought that he may have just stood in the box and watched pitches sail by. Also, with the addition of Luis Garcia, junior, Stanton becomes even more redundant than he was before. Basically, you have three players right now, Ben Rice, Luis Garcia, junior, and Paul Goldschmidt, for two positions. Adding in Stanton seems superfluous. He is a completely one-dimensional player now. It is unclear how long it will take him to get his swing back, but he can no longer play the field and he is a major liability on the base paths. He will essentially be an extremely streaky and limited pinch hitter or DH. When Stanton is the DH, someone who is better will be sitting. I honestly don't see the point of bringing him back. Similarly, when Cody Bellinger returns from the IL, someone is going to have to go. Most people would immediately say that it should be Spencer Jones. I would be reluctant to do that. Jones has been developing very nicely, although somewhat quietly on the Major League level. He had two hits off Chris Sale the other day. Chris Sale is one of the best pitchers in the game and is a left-hander. I would be more inclined to cut ties with Trent Grisham. I know he hit a home run on Sunday, but he is extremely streaky and is barely hitting above .200 for the season. He should not be playing centerfield. Yet, Boone sticks him out there without hesitation or question. At this point, Jones offers a lot more for the present and the future than Grisham does. When Bellinger comes back, Grisham should be released. I seriously doubt that will happen, but the Yankees actually did send Anthony Volpe to the minor leagues, so it is possible.

I would like to take a minute to wish a Happy Birthday to my sister Penny. The Mint may have stopped making pennies, but I’m       sure glad that my parents made this one.