About the Off-Day: Meanderings of My Mind

About the Off-Day: Meanderings of My Mind

By Tim Kabel

July 2, 2024

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The Yankees were off yesterday. They split the weekend series with the Blue Jays and have not won a series since they played the Royals June 10-13. In a baseball season, that is a long time. The Yankees need to right the ship.

Because of the off-day, I will now wander from topic to topic like a busload full of rest home residents on the senior citizen discount day at an all you can eat buffet.

·       Based on his performance over the past few days, the Yankees should have benched Gleyber Torres in April.

·       When I saw all those news reports about the presidential debate on Friday, I was flummoxed. They discussed candidates appearing confused, avoiding questions, losing their train of thought, and providing answers that made no sense. I didn't realize Aaron Boone was running for president.

·       I find it interesting that Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. recently changed his tune about playing for the Yankees. Perhaps he knows something that we don't. If the Yankees did trade for him, I wouldn't complain. He recently said he would be willing to play third base again. I don't know how good he would be there but remember, the Yankees did play Matt Carpenter at third base for a few games in 2022.

·       I won my battle with the the property management company. They installed central air conditioning last week. When it comes to fighting battles and expressing myself in writing, I'm a regular Cyrano de Bergerac. I guess I have a nose for it. By the way, I think the best portrayal of that character was done by Gerard Depardieu.

·       So far, Ben Rice does not appear to be overmatched. If the Yankees are seriously planning to re-sign Juan Soto, they will need to develop young, less expensive players to round out the lineup. Hopefully, Anthony Volpe, Austin Wells, Jasson Dominguez, and Ben Rice could be the core of that group.

·       It has taken me a while but after I finished all the transitional work, I have adjusted to the reality that I will never again work a traditional job. I will write from home. That allows me to pursue my other interests, such as cooking, on a more consistent basis. Retirement agrees with me. It is ironic that my father died before he could retire but all of his children have lived long enough to do so. I think that would make him happy.

·       It's nice that Gleyber Torres has improved his performance over the past few days but, he is still unreliable defensively. As the old Cajun chef, Justin Wilson, used to say, “I gah-rawn-tee” that Torres is entering his final few months as a New York Yankee.

·       When I was watching the post-debate coverage the other day, I was surprised to see Geraldo Rivera. I didn't realize he was still around. I remember when he had that special about finding Al Capone’s secret vault. As I recall, all he found was a dusty wine bottle. That just goes to prove you can bounce back from almost anything in this world.

·       Spencer Jones had a monster game on Sunday, He reached base all five times he came up, had four hits, including two home runs, and had a career-high seven RBI. At the very least, he just drove his trade value through the roof.

·       Well, Phil Bickford did not last long with the Yankees. They need to retool this bullpen as soon as they can. Scott Effross may be coming back and JT Brubaker, whom they acquired in a trade with the Pirates in the winter, is also on a rehab assignment. Jack Neely moved up to AAA and seems to be doing very well. He could be here relatively soon. I would rather see him on the team than Jake Cousins or Josh Maciejewski. (I pulled a muscle typing that name). Whether it is through promoting minor leaguers, getting people back from injury, or making trades, the Yankees do need to upgrade the bullpen. One thing is clear. They do not need to root around the scrap heap anymore. They have gone to the thrift shop enough this season. 

·       One of my new hobbies is finding plates, dishes, or utensils after my wife dries the dishes and puts them away. I'm a firm believer in the old expression “a place for everything, and everything in its place.” My wife has a slightly different approach, I believe the official name for it is “close your eyes, throw it in the air and where it lands, nobody knows.”

·       It was nice to see Austin Wells catching Gerrit Cole for the first time in his career on Sunday. Hopefully that becomes a regular pairing. I think we are at the point where Wells needs to get the bulk of the time behind the plate. His bat is really developing, and he is fine defensively. He can also actually throw someone out. Jose Trevino couldn't throw out Steve Balboni at an Old Timers’ Day game. That's a problem.

·       One of the benefits of living close to the beach is that I could watch the town’s fireworks display from my deck. I have never been a huge fan of fireworks, but I have to admit this one was very well done. There was also the added treat of another type of fireworks, as there was a road rage incident outside of my home. One of the participants even uttered those immortal words, “Do you know who you're talking to?” She said this on three occasions. I was about to interject from my deck that I did not know to whom he was speaking and would in fact like to know. I decided against it. They were doing just fine without my interference.

·       Between now and the end of the month, or whenever the Yankees make a major trade, they will be linked to almost every possible player you could imagine. In addition to Vladimir Guerrero Jr., I have seen reports that the Yankees may try to acquire Cody Bellinger. He could play the outfield, giving the regular outfielders days off, or he could play first base. If that were to happen, I would like to see the Yankees use Ben Rice as the DH rather than JD Davis or Jamai Jones. 

·       It would be nice to see the Yankees acquire a formidable hitter to bat in the clean-up position. So far this season, they have not had a lot of production from that spot in the order. Having someone there who is productive and intimidates the opposition would make Juan Soto and Aaron Judge even better and it would lengthen the lineup considerably. Giancarlo Stanton was sporadic and did not always bat in that position. It is very hard to say with any degree of certainty how effective he will be when he returns. The Yankees need someone who will be a consistent threat in the lineup. They need to go outside of the organization to acquire that individual and they need to do it soon.

·       I don't want to become too political here but my thought after observing the presidential debate last week is that we need a candidate who is older than these two. Dick Van Dyke, at age 98 1/2 is still pretty spry. He could revive those old “Stop, Drop, and Roll” public service ad campaigns to prevent burning. People would probably take them more seriously if he were the president. The only problem is that when you're almost 100 years old, Stop, Drop, and Roll may become just Stop and Drop. The other advantage would be that Dick would save the country money because he could clean me chimneys at the White House himself. “Chim Chim Cher-ee.”