About the Off-Season: Waiting Game

About the Off-Season: Waiting Game

By Tim Kabel

December 10, 2025

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The Winter Meetings are underway.  Would someone please tell Brian Cashman and Hal Steinbrenner about this. I don't believe they know.

Yesterday, the Phillies re-signed Kyle Schwarber. The Dodgers signed Edwin Diaz to be their closer. The Dodgers won the last two World Series and three since 2020.  Yesterday, they acquired arguably the best closer in the game. The Yankees signed... nobody. That's fine, the Yankees traded for…nobody's twin brother, no one.

To be clear, I am not necessarily saying the Yankees should have signed either Schwarber or Diaz the point is that the Yankees signed nobody and no one. They did nothing. It is very hard to move forward when you are standing still.

In the 1997 movie, The Edge, Anthony Hopkins repeats the mantra, “What one man can do; another can do.” Hal Steinbrenner should be fitted with special headphones so that line can be repeated to him ad infinitum while he is sleeping. Perhaps that will motivate him to do something. I'm sure the Yankees will eventually make moves.  The questions are: What will they do? And when will they do it?

The Dodgers beat the Yankees in the 2024 World Series. The Yankees didn't make it to the 2025 World Series. They lost to the Blue Jays in the ALDS. The Dodgers beat the Blue Jays in the 2025 World Series. Yet, the Dodgers just added a tremendous arm to their bullpen. They improved markedly. Thus far, the Yankees are maintaining the status quo. 

Both the Dodgers and the Blue Jays are ahead of the Yankees. Aaron Boone stated that the gap between the Yankees and the Blue Jays is “small”, because they had the same exact record. True, I suppose. However, the Blue Jays won the division because they beat the Yankees eight times in thirteen regular season games. They also beat the Yankees three games to one in the ALDS. Saying that the gap is small between the two teams after what happened between them last season is not very accurate. It smacks of participation ribbons. 

The Blue Jays have already signed Dylan Cease and Cody Ponce. Again, I am not suggesting the Yankees should have signed either one of those pitchers. The point is that the Blue Jays, like the Dodgers, are making moves. They are adding to their team. They are improving. The Dodgers and the Blue Jays were already ahead of the Yankees, and they are both improving.

By doing nothing, the Yankees are falling farther behind. If you are running in a race and you are behind someone and you slow down, you won't catch them unless they fall down. Neither the Blue Jays nor the Dodgers are likely to fall down anytime soon.

Now, I am not trying to incite panic. I have said that we need to be patient. We do. The Yankees could pull off a trade or sign someone after I finish writing this article. They could do it at any point on Wednesday, or Thursday. It doesn't really matter. They just need to do something sometime soon.

Although the Yankees certainly have made moves in recent years, they have also talked about additional moves that never happened. There were many times when Hal Steinbrenner and/or Brian Cashman stated that the Yankees would finish things off and make more additions to the roster. Unfortunately, those moves never happened for a variety of reasons. They left the job partially done.

You could put the most beautiful roof on a house that you wanted to but if you only complete seventy percent of it, a lot of people are going to get wet.

The Dodgers and Blue Jays are already making improvements. The Yankees need to catch up. They need to get into the game. They can't just sit around waiting. Hal needs to remember the mantra, “What one man can do; another can do.” He needs to chant that over and over. He doesn't need to kill a grizzly bear with a stick. He just needs to sign a few players.

Let's all repeat those words in our heads over and over and send the message to Hal.

“What one man can do; another can do.”