About the Off-Season: Dutch Treat?

About the Off-Season: Dutch Treat? 

By Tim Kabel

December 17, 2025

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We have been waiting for the Yankees to make a move. Well, yesterday they did it. They really did it. The Yankees signed, (brace yourself for this one) …Tijn Fredrikze, an 18-year-old left-handed pitcher from the Netherlands. WOWIE, ZOWIE.  He is the greatest thing to come out of the Netherlands since wooden shoes and cocoa. Actually, I don't think even Alan B. ever heard of this young man.

I want to be very clear here. I am not casting aspersions on a Dutch teenager. Maybe someday, he will become the ace of the New York Yankees’ pitching staff. But it's not going to happen this year. Fredrikze is the first European born and raised player the Yankees have signed in twelve years. He has a fastball that tops out at 88 miles an hour. He also throws a curveball and a changeup. His ERA was 3.79 and he had 110 strikeouts. None of that means anything to the current Yankees team.

The signing of Fredrikze In and of itself is not a problem at all. It's great that the Yankees are exploring Europe and other places looking for talent. What is the problem is that was the only move the Yankees made yesterday. It wasn't that they signed Bo Bichette, or traded for Corey Seager or signed any legitimate Major Leaguer and (that's the keyword here- “and”) signed the youngster from the Netherlands. His signing should have never been more than an “oh by the way, the Yankees also did this” move. Fredrikze should never be the lead story in the off-season. That's like coming into a room full of people expecting dinner and telling them you brought gum.

The problem with the Yankees now is that more and more frequently, these “oh by the way” signings are becoming the lead story, day after day.

Yankees fans want meat and potatoes on the plate. They want legitimate Major Leaguers so that the Yankees, the same Yankees that have won 27 World Series by the way, can be legitimate contenders to actually win another one. Instead of meat and potatoes, the leadership of the New York Yankees and by that I mean Brian Cashman and Hal Steinbrenner, are providing garnish. We get parsley and little roses carved out of radishes instead of prime rib and scalloped potatoes.

Again, if this seems like I am bashing this poor youngster from the Netherlands, I am not. I wish him nothing but success. I am bashing Brian Cashman and Hal Steinbrenner. It's one thing to be off the beaten path, that can be interesting, exciting, and sometimes it can lead to something really remarkable. It's quite another thing to be lost. There is a fine line between being off the beaten path and being lost. Right now, the Yankees are lost. Maybe they will find their way again. Maybe they won't. Maybe they will find a catcher in the fiords of Norway. Maybe, they will find the next great center fielder for the franchise in Poland next week. Maybe they won't.

The Yankees are currently acting in a way that leads the rest of the Major Leagues, Yankees fans and the media to not take them seriously. The bloom is off the rose for the Yankees. Right now, they cannot attempt to portray themselves as the shining city on the hill. The Yankees are presenting themselves as down on their luck. I am not a hunter, nor do I have any desire to be one, but it is if it is it is as if the rest of the Major League teams are hunting elk and deer and the Yankees are chasing chipmunks.

How many more minor league free agents or reclamation projects or imports from Czechoslovakia do we really need? Instead of signing a pitcher from the Netherlands, why didn't the Yankees sign one from Japan, named Tatsuya Imai? Maybe they will. Maybe they won’t. 

I have been writing a lot of articles lately. And it seems like almost every day I am saying “maybe they will." I am starting to feel like a 13-year-old cat with three legs and one eye at the animal shelter, waiting for that one family to come in to adopt me. “Maybe today will be the day.” Maybe it won't. As anyone who reads my articles knows, I am an optimist but when I am expecting the Yankees to make a major move and all I get is a cup of Dutch cocoa, it can be hard to maintain that optimism.