About the Off-Season: Meanderings of My Mind
By Tim Kabel
February 3, 2025
***
The off-season is winding down. We are about a week away from Spring Training opening for the New York Yankees. The hardest part of the year is coming to an end. Spring and warm weather will be here soon. Well, today is Monday and it is the off-season. That means I will now move from topic to topic like a hummingbird flitting from flower to flower in a garden.
· Hal Steinbrenner saw his shadow yesterday. You know what that means: six more weeks of inactivity and excuses.
· I had company for dinner the other night and I made veal scallopini. I had never made it before, and I don't know that I ever had it in a restaurant. Actually, it's not something you see on the menu very often anymore. However, it was extremely easy to make, and it was outstanding. In fact, I think it's the best thing I have cooked since I moved into this apartment a year ago. I served it over pasta with roasted green and yellow squash and red peppers. I finished the meal off with a homemade bourbon, chocolate, pecan pie. Thanks to my weight loss medication. I had to find my portions with a magnifying glass, but rumor has it that the meal was quite tasty.
· Supposedly, the Yankees are planning to use Jasson Dominguez as the leadoff hitter. Under certain circumstances, I like the idea very much. The problem is I don't know if those circumstances will exist. First, Dominguez needs to be left alone to develop. In other words, if he struggles over the first ten games, he can't be banished from the lineup. It takes time to develop. It also takes patience. Aaron Boone has never exhibited those qualities with young players. He has buckets and buckets of patience for fading veterans. However, he has very little when it comes to young players, who have far greater potential. Second, Dominguez has to be allowed to run if he gets on base. He has tremendous speed and base running ability and could steal a lot of bases. If Boone puts him on a tight leash and doesn't let him run, it's almost pointless to have him batting leadoff. Third, I liked Aaron Judge batting third last season. Perhaps Cody Bellinger could bat second, between Dominguez and Judge. That would increase the RBI opportunities for Judge immensely, as opposed to what he would get batting second.
.
· . As I am settling into my retirement and my life as a full-time writer, I am developing patterns. I found a local bakery that makes New York style hard rolls, which are crispy on the outside and soft in the center. They also make wonderful loaves of crusty Italian bread, which is perfect to have with soups, stews, and other meals. There is an excellent local bagel shop that makes many nice varieties but, they do not make one of my favorites, pumpernickel. I was able to find a place online that ships bagels from New York, at no charge. I tried them and was extremely pleased with their bagels. I also have a preferred butcher shop and another store that has excellent meat, in case I need something different. It is very nice that in this modern era with the mega-marts and bulk shopping stores, that there are still specialty stores. I hope that is something we never lose in this country. Being able to go to a local store to purchase imported cheeses or freshly made kielbasa is a real treat. The same is true for farmers’ markets in the summer.
· Aaron Boone’s latest defense of DJ LeMahieu is mind boggling and very concerning. He warned the people who were counting LeMahieu out as a viable option to be the starting third baseman that “it wasn't that long ago that he was one of the top hitters in the American League. Well, that was 2020. This is 2025. In baseball, that is a long time ago. LeMahieu will also be 37 years old this year. The likelihood of him bouncing back from batting .204 to batting .364 is virtually nonexistent. Boone claimed that a lot of LeMahieu’s troubles are injury related. There is a lot of truth to that. Since LeMahieu has a history of being brittle and is now another year older, is it more or less likely that he will be plagued by injuries this season? Very frequently, part of being washed up is not being able to stay on the field. That's where LeMahieu is right now. Someone should remind Boone that this is 2025, not 2020.
· My new kitten, Clancy, is quite a character. My wife's Siamese cat, Luna is grumpy and standoffish and doesn't seem to like anybody in the house, except my wife and on certain occasions, me. Clancy has imposed his will on her and is relentless in his attempts to be her friend. She now grudgingly allows him to lie next to her on the bed and for the most part, is tolerant of his playful antics. Even when she becomes aggravated, he's not put off. He simply tries harder. He also listens very well for a cat. At night, if he is in my office with me while I'm writing or in the kitchen, all I have to say is “come on Clancy, let's go to the bedroom”. He will get up and follow me to the room. The most amazing part about this is that he's only about four months old.
· I have been a Yankees’ fan for 50 years now. During that time, there have been players who came up that I really liked and hoped would have tremendous careers for the Yankees. Sometimes it worked out but, sometimes it didn’t. Steve Balboni came up to the Yankees in the early 1980’s. He was considered to be a great prospect who had tremendous home run potential. The Yankees broadcaster, Frank Messer, even saddled him with the nickname “Bye, Bye Balboni”. Unfortunately for Balboni, he came up at the same time as Don Mattingly, who was clearly the better prospect. Balboni was traded to the Kansas City Royals. In 1985, he hit 36 home runs and had 88 RBI. Unfortunately, he led the league with 166 strikeouts and batted .243. In this day and age, .243 would be considered a decent batting average. Balboni also won the World Series with the Royals that year. Although he did not have a tremendous career, I always had a soft spot for him. I remember reading a description of him in Sports Illustrated that said he had “a perpetual look of impending doom on his face.” That was another reason I liked him.
· When i was a kid, every summer, my mother would say that we were going to go to the Trolley Car Museum in East Haven, CT. We never went. I heard a lot about it, but I never actually saw it. Ironically when I moved to East Haven, I lived about a half a mile away from the Trolley Car Museum and when my kids were younger, we did actually go several times. It's just ironic that a place that was discussed so often in my childhood would be a landmark in the town I ultimately lived in. I do wish that my mother was still alive when I moved here, because i could have finally fulfilled that wish for her and brought her to the famous museum.
· The most alarming aspect about Aaron Boone’s comments regarding DJ LeMahieu is that I think he actually believes them. That means he will be committed to giving LeMahieu the chance to win the third base job. I think that means the standards regarding LeMahieu are much lower than they are for the other players in the mix. In other words, if LeMahieu bats.210 in spring training and Oswaldo Cabrera hits.240, and Oswald Peraza hits .242, I could see Boone saying LeMahieu deserves to be the starter because of his experience and proven track record. I think LeMahieu is washed up and should be designated for assignment. If Aaron Judge and the other veterans attempt to intercede on his behalf again, they should be politely informed that baseball is a business and it's time to move on. LeMahieu will still get paid. He just should not be paid to be the starting third baseman, when he is not up to the task.
I believe we have seen this movie before. LeMahieu has a contract that stifles any type of meaningful trade, Boone talks up the player over the winter..... This year it has been suggested on this site that he will actually have to manipulate a lineup to take advantage of perceived matchups.... does anyone believe he can manipulate a lineup and actually manage!
My dad loves trains, busses, and trolley cars.
I have also been there... Also the Seashore Trolley Museum in Maine.
My parents took me to the East Haven trolley museum when I was little, and my wife and I took our son when he was about the same age I had been. Several of the same trolleys were still there (and I have photos from both trips to show it). I found it oddly comforting that at least some things don't change, even after 45 or so years.
it would be much better if Boone, discussing LeMahieu would say "the guy has really, really stunk in the last coupla years and we gotta ship his old, worthless carcass off the Kansas City... or maybe just right to the knackers' yard."
doing that would lead to clear communication and unleavened honesty and would facilitate trading DJ for a nice return, or, even more beneficially, allow Boone to employ LeMahieu in the line-up should a trade not be made in short order.
The Yankees have had plenty of opportunities to get a better than average or average infielder, but the Steve Cohen tax is being followed religously by Steinbrenner. They are now hoping to find someone that won't cost anything which means probably going with in house options. Aside from the expensive options of Bregman and Arenado, I like Iglesias. He has always hit and is decent defensively. They are using the same approach to getting a lefthanded reliever. Five million is too much. The market price for good relievers has gone up and the Yankees need to accept that instead of waiting for the cheapest opportunity. Right now they are letting all the lefthanded relievers pass them by, I thought they…