About the Off-Season: Meanderings of My Mind

The Yankees were eliminated from the postseason in the ALDS last season and that has been one of the best things that happened to them since the regular season ended in 2025. The off-season has been relatively uneventful for the Yankees other than their recent re-signing of Cody Bellinger. We have less than a month before Spring Training starts. Since I don't have any games to recap, I will now move from topic to topic as if I was rooting through the refrigerator, trying to figure out what to eat because I was stranded alone during the blizzard. Actually, that is what I'm doing so it won't take a lot of imagination.

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I'm very happy that the Yankees did re-sign Cody Bellinger.  However, when you think about it, all they have really done so far during the off-season is bring back most of the people who were on the roster last year. The only two people who were not on the roster for at least some part of the year in 2025 are Ryan Weathers and Cade Winquest. The only other additions the Yankees made to the Major League roster were by re-signing people who were on the 2025 team. Every other move they have made during the offseason has been signing players to minor league contracts. They have picked people up off the waiver wire or who were without a team. Signing people off the scrap heap is now the Yankees’ preferred method to acquire players. So far, they have not signed a single free agent who was not on their roster in 2025. They have made one trade. This is not the way the Yankees did things in the past. However, is the way they do them now, under Hal Steinbrenner. Hal and Brian Cashman could get that old truck that Fred Sanford used to drive around in when they go off looking for players to add to the roster.

As I am writing this, Connecticut is bracing itself for a major snowstorm. It's been a while since we had one of those. I am not able to go out and shovel snow, so I am at the mercy of my landlord. I have plenty of provisions, so I will be fine. My wife will have to work on Monday because the childcare center where she works will not be closing. Consequently, she went to the hotel next to the daycare center a little while ago. She will be gone until Monday. I will be filming the senior citizen version of Home Alone. I know I will be able to get a lot of writing done and I have plenty of food already prepared. Perhaps, I can find a good movie to watch. Since I don't have to go to work or anywhere else, I can just sip a cup of coffee and look out the sliding glass door with Clancy and the other cats and watch the snow accumulate. Ned Stark was right.  Winter is coming.

Over the past few days, I have read some interesting articles regarding moves the Yankee should make. Since it seems highly unlikely that the Yankees are willing to spend much more money, I don't believe that they will sign any big-time players. I did read an article suggesting that the Yankees should sign Eugenio Suarez to play third base, and then either keep Ryan McMahon in a diminished role or trade him. The point of the article was that the Yankees would benefit from Suarez’s tremendous offensive ability and the fact that he is right-handed and that they could tolerate his less than sparkling defense. I'm not saying that I don't think the Yankees will look to get someone who is a better offensive player than Ryan McMahon for third base, but I don't think they would bring in someone with shoddy defense. The Yankees are committed to Max Fried, who relies on his defense when he is pitching. I don't think he would be happy about having Suarez playing behind him. I suspect that at this point Ryan McMahon will be the third baseman unless the Yankees can find someone who is solid defensively but better offensively than McMahon and preferably hits from the right side.

One of the benefits of the retirement plan I have through the state of Connecticut is the health programs they offer. They offer virtual physical therapy through a program called Hinge. It is very well done, and I have participated in 68 consecutive sessions.  The recommendation is 3 to 5 sessions a week and I have been doing 5. I have noticed a tremendous increase in my mobility as well as my strength. I do additional sets of arm and leg exercises every morning. Some of the exercises require the use of resistance bands. I'm going to start using some of my son’s dumbbells while he is away at college. I will use them when he comes home too but I'm going to start my program now. Since both of my shoulders are in pretty bad shape and the left one is completely dislocated, I am building up the muscle around it so that I have greater strength and mobility. I will be using five- and ten-pound weights. Considering that I could bench press over 360 pounds in my prime, the fact that I will be using light weights is a bit humbling but accepting my limitations is something I have learned to do. Once I accept them, I can expand the boundaries of my limitations through hard work.

I suspect that if the Yankees do make any trades before the season begins, it will either be for young players with multiple years of team control remaining or prospects. If the Yankees make trades involving players with high salaries, it will probably be with those players exiting the Yankees rather than joining them. It is believed that the Yankees want to cut payroll. I read an article stating that the Yankees would love to trade Ryan McMahon, Giancarlo Stanton, and Trent Grisham, since they are all making quite a bit of money. Grisham would need to give his permission for a trade prior to June 15th. The article I read suggested that since the Cincinnati Reds were eager to sign Kyle Schwarber, perhaps they would be interested in Stanton. It's worth a shot.

I was reading that the new mayor of New York City Zohran Mamdani, stated that on Monday New York city students would either have a day of attending classes in person or virtually. The possibility of a snow day is virtually nonexistent. I have to say that I agree with the mayor on this one. With the rise of technology and the ability to attend meetings or classes virtually, I don't think there will ever be snow days again except on very rare occasions. When I worked for the state, there were some days when if the weather was particularly bad, the governor would tell state employees to stay home. That is no longer the case. Many workers perform their jobs virtually most of the time anyway so why wouldn't they do it on a day when it isn't safe to drive. Technology is wonderful and all these advancements are terrific, but I do feel a slight twinge of sadness for the youngsters today who will never experience the joy of a snow day. When I was a kid, you would wake up on a wintery day and listen to the radio to see if your school was listed as one of the ones being closed, or at very least, delayed. When that happened, it was like another Christmas morning. Now, I certainly would not have wanted one every day but one or two a year was about the average and if there were more than the number that had been factored in, the school year would be extended a day or two. So, snow days are something I will be able to tell my grandchildren about someday. They will have no idea what I'm talking about. It will be like telling them about rotary phones and cameras that were not part of your telephone. Well, on Monday I will hoist my cup of cocoa and marshmallows in a silent protest and tribute to those poor youth who will never experience the joy of a snow day.

Because Trent Grisham is only under contract for one year and Cody Bellinger can opt out after two years, I think it would be foolish of the Yankees to trade Jasson Dominguez and Spencer Jones. I think they should definitely keep at least one of them. I would rather see the Yankees put Jones in the minor leagues at least at the outset of the season than see them trade him. Injuries do happen and as we all know, Giancarlo Stanton has more of them than most people. I'm certainly not wishing that on him. It's just the reality of the situation. He is quite likely to miss at least some time this season. Imagine if the Yankees did trade Dominguez and Jones and then Stanton missed a significant period of time. Who would take his spot in the lineup. Another option the Yankees have is playing Cody Bellinger primarily at first base and trading either Ben Rice or Austin Wells. I think if they traded one of those two, it would probably be Wells. That is a move that I suggested a long time ago. It would depend on a few things. First, who would the Yankees bring back in such a trade and second, would they be able to get a solid backup catcher for Rice? Preferably that individual would be a right-handed hitter. There are still some moves the Yankees can make but with their self-imposed budgetary constraints, they will be very limited in what they can or actually, what they will do.