About the Off-Season: Meanderings of My Mind

About the Off-Season: Meanderings of My Mind

By Tim Kabel

November 25, 2024

***

We are a few days away from Thanksgiving and deeper into the off-season. The Winter Meetings are two weeks away. The Yankees and other teams will soon begin making substantial moves including free agent signings and trades. My appetite is growing. No, not for food. The delightful “weight loss journey” is continuing. So, my Thanksgiving dinner may consist of looking at a picture of a turkey and mashed potatoes while I have a bowl of broth.  It is my appetite for transactions by the Yankees to improve their team that is growing. I suspect we will see some action soon. However, it is still the off-season and there are no games to recap. Since it is Monday, I will now move from topic to topic like a polar bear looking for leftovers in Churchill, Manitoba.

·      Although I would have liked to see the Yankees make a bold move with Juan Soto last week, I expect he will sign during the Winter Meetings. I am still confident that the Yankees will be the team to sign him.  He could sign with another team, quite possibly the Mets but, i don't think that will happen. I do think the Yankees need to make other moves and as I wrote last week, I would not be surprised to see them do something before the winter meetings to send a very strong message to Juan Soto that they are serious about improving the team beyond just bringing him back.

·      One of my favorite parts of Thanksgiving is the simple smell of the roasting turkey. There are certain aromas from cooking that I truly like. The smells of baking bread, or bacon sizzling in a frying pan are also delightful. Years ago, I had to drive by the Pepperidge Farm bakery on my way to work every morning.  On days when the ovens were running, you could smell it from a good half mile away. I would roll down the windows and just enjoy the ride a little more.

·      Congratulations to Aaron Judge for being the American League Most Valuable Player and to Luis Gil for being the American League Rookie of the Year. I had predicted Austin Wells would be the Rookie of the Year at the beginning of the season. He wasn't but he was a finalist.  I think that he is well on his way to becoming a very important part of this Yankees’ team. I will now predict that Jasson Dominguez will be the 2025 American League Rookie of the Year. Watch, now it will be Caleb Durbin.

·      I have written a lot about my cats, and in particular, Nut. I don't want people to think that I am giving dogs short shrift. I love dogs. I had dogs as pets from almost my entire life. It's just that with my current living situation and my somewhat limited mobility right now, it would not be fair of me to own a dog. When I am better able to take one for a walk or have a fenced-in-yard, I will certainly want to have another one. I have had many different breeds, including plain old mutts. My favorite dogs that I owned are Shetland Sheepdogs and Great Pyrenees, which are on opposite ends of the size spectrum. I have an oddly amusing memory of my former father-in-law when he visited us from Venezuela. To say that the man is a character would be a massive understatement. He decided that he wanted to trim the fur on my Great Pyrenees while I was at work. Next thing I knw, he turned into Edward Scissorhands and there was a giant mountain of white fur and a dog who looked like he had the mange. For a moment, I thought I was going to have to put him to sleep but he soon returned to Venezuela before it got that far.

·      One of the potential moves I have read about for the Yankees is to acquire Cody Bellinger from the Cubs. Although I have repeatedly written that I would like the Yankees to trade for Vladimir Guerrero, Jr., I could certainly live with Cody Bellinger as the first baseman. I think he would fit in very nicely with the rest of the lineup and provide a great deal of depth. He would not have to be a superstar on this team. Although it would be better to get a right-handed hitter, Bellinger would be a solid acquisition. If the Yankees are unable to trade Giancarlo Stanton, he would provide a solid a strong right-handed presence, as long as he remains healthy.

·      For many years, I used to do wood carving. I was actually pretty good at it. With the arthritis I have in my hands, it might be difficult to do that now but eventually, I would like to have a little workshop where I could do that in addition to my writing and other hobbies. One of my favorite woods to work with is cedar. We had several trees at the house where I grew up. When I had to cut one of them down, I used the wood for carving. Not only is it beautiful, with the various shades of pink, red and cream, it has a wonderful smell to it. I'm treating my retirement as sort of a smorgasbord of opportunities for me to try new things or resume things that I used to do.

·      If Everson Pereira is completely recovered, he could play an important role for the Yankees in 2025. Although he struggled when he first came to the Majors in 2023, he might develop into a solid right-handed hitter. If Giancarlo Stanton is not on the team or is on the IL for a lengthy stretch of time, Pereira could conceivably take his spot.

·      Yesterday, I had company for dinner and decided to make one of my favorite recipes that I saw on television with Stanley Tucci. For a chef, he's a very good actor. It is a pasta dish with a tomato sauce that has guanciale in it. For those who don't know, (and I fell into that category before i watched his program), guanciale is similar to bacon but instead of coming from the belly of the pig, it is from the jowl. It is very flavorful and smoky and is quite flavorful. I paired it with london broil that was marinated in Italian dressing, broiled and then topped with mozzarella cheese. To finish things off, I had another Italian delicacy, chocolate lemon pie. Although neither of my parents were Italian, somehow my palate is.

·      Another prospective move I read about for the Yankees, would be to trade for Mason Miller from the Oakland A’s. I like that idea a lot. One of the deals I read about suggested the Yankees could send Jasson Dominguez and Will Warren to Oakland in exchange for Miller. I would substitute Spencer Jones and possibly another prospect in addition to Will Warren. If the Yankees did that, and traded for either Cody Bellinger or Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. and signed a starting pitcher, they would certainly send a message to Juan Soto and the rest of the team that they are serious about contending in 2025 and beyond. Not only that, but they would also have an extremely strong team, which would be even better once Soto resigned.

·      I have read that the Yankees and Walker Buehler have mutual interest. Although Corbin Burnes would be a more attractive option, he might be too pricey if the Yankees do in fact, re-sign along Soto. Buehler might be a good fit.  I just hope it doesn't turn into 1977 all over again, when the Yankees signed Don Gullett after losing to him and the Reds in the World Series. Gullett became injured and never contributed very much longterm to the Yankees after a solid 1977 season.

·      Last year, I was preparing to move before Christmas, so i couldn't do as many holiday-themed things as I wanted to. I was also still working on completing the process of submitting all the paperwork for a disability retirement. Now that I am settled this year, I am going to make my fruitcakes, which use dried fruit, nuts and chocolate chips, as opposed to candied fruit. I am also making homemade eggnog. When I used to make that, I would make two batches, one for the kids another for the adults, with some bourbon. I don't have any little tykes running around anymore so, I think I will only make the version with bourbon this year. I don't overdo it, and although it is a time consuming process, the end result is very tasty.

·      As I have written before, I am not in love with the idea of signing Alex Bregman to play third base. I would prefer to keep Jazz Chisholm over there and give Caleb Durbin the chance to win the second base job. However, if Bregman played first base, that might be worth exploring. He is a solid right-handed hitter who could balance the lineup. I don't know if that's something he would consider or could even do, but it might be worth a conversation.