About the Off-Season: Preaching Patience

About the Off-Season: Preaching Patience.

By Tim Kabel

November 30, 2025

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“Patience is a virtue

Have it if you can

It’s hard to find

In a baseball fan”

Many years ago, I took a few catering jobs while I worked full-time as a social worker and then a supervisor at the Department of Children and Families in Connecticut. Most of the catering jobs were for people I knew from work. The first time I catered a dinner party, it was for one of the Assistant Attorney Generals and her husband.  I had not met her husband before that evening. I quickly began to wish that I hadn't met him at all. To say that he was prickly would be an understatement. He watched me setting up and began griping and grousing to his wife that it was not going to be a successful evening. I continued, unfazed by his commentary. 

As he watched me closely, I diced multiple types of vegetables and sliced up beef stew into small pieces. After I browned the meat, seasoned it, and added an ocean of beef stock, he began to calm down slightly as the smells wafted across the kitchen. Soon I added all the vegetables and more seasoning and then I let it cook while I worked on other things. He was still expressing doubt and worry.

Once I gave him a bowl of the soup, a smile slid across his face and he visibly relaxed. He then followed me around the kitchen like a puppy while I made everything else. By the time the guests arrived, I ranked only slightly below Julia Child as a chef in his mind. It took me a little while to get rolling but once I did, everything came together. The dinner party was a huge success, and I did a few more parties for them. I also catered a few dinners for some of their guests that evening. Eventually, I stopped doing it because it was too time consuming, and I had many other things to do. My point is that what looked like a disaster in those first few minutes to that gentlemen, turned out to be something he considered to be a tremendous triumph.

The off-season is underway. The Red Sox acquired Sonny Gray in a trade. The Blue Jays signed Dylan Cease to a seven-year contract. The Yankees signed... Ryan Yarbrough.

Before you pass out, look at the calendar. It is November 30th. The Yankees have plenty of time. First, the signing of Yarbrough is a small move, but it is an important one. Until he was injured last year, Yarbrough did a fine job for the Yankees as both a starter and a reliever. He could fill the same role in 2026. Right now, the Yankees have Luis Gil, Will Warren, Cam Schlittler, and Max Fried in the starting rotation. Based on his injury history, Luis Gil is the least reliable of those pitchers. The Yankees need another starter at least until Carlos Rodon and Gerrit Cole return.  If the Yankees do not acquire another pitcher, they could be in trouble. Simply relying on Yarbrough would not be sufficient. However, if they sign Tatsuya Imai for example, then, the rotation will look pretty solid.

There has been a lot written about the Yankees’ need to re-sign Cody Bellinger. I agree with that, and I agree with what Paul Semendinger wrote yesterday. Bellinger needs to be part of the solution for 2026, not all of it. I have gone on record stating that I would like to see the Yankees sign Bellinger to be the first baseman and then acquire an upgrade over Ryan McMahon at third base.  To be clear, I do not view Bellinger as a replacement for Ben Rice. I view Bellinger as a replacement for Austin Wells. Again, as I have written many times, I like Wells. However, I think the Yankees lineup would be better with Bellinger and Rice as opposed to Rice and Wells.  

I would also like the Yankees to bring in Bo Bichette to play shortstop. If they also bring back Devin Williams or a comparable relief pitcher, that would be an extremely solid offseason. 

It is early. There is a lot of time left in the off-season. However, I think the Yankees need to make at least one or two moves soon so we can see what they are doing. It will be like handing us a bowl of soup so we can relax, ease our anxiety, and sit back while Cashman and his minions make the rest of their moves.