About the Off-Day: Meanderings of My Mind

About the Off-Day: Meanderings of My Mind

By Tim Kabel

August 30, 2024

***

The Yankees were off yesterday after losing a series to the Washington Nationals, one of the worst teams in Baseball. The Yankees still have the best record in the American League and lead the Baltimore Orioles by one game. Since there is no game to recap, I will now move from topic to topic like Felix Unger darting through his apartment on cleaning day. Actually with Felix, every day was cleaning day.

·       The Yankees did not have a very impressive showing at the trading deadline, other than their acquisition of Jazz Chisholm, Jr.. Mark Leiter, Jr. has been underwhelming and Enyel De Los Santos was released already.

·       I was sorry to see John Sterling leave abruptly, but he is 86 years old. He had to step down sometime. However, I'm not thrilled with the idea of him potentially coming back to call playoff games. When you retire, you should retire. It's also not fair to the broadcasters who have been taking his place to suddenly push them out for the playoffs because John wants to come back. I do think he should have been brought back to co-host the Old Timers’ Day activities with Michael Kay but, I don't think he should call games in the playoffs.

·       DJ LeMahieu rode his recent hot streak to bring his batting average all the way up to .202. Similarly, Alex Verdugo has pushed his batting average up to.234. Do you remember Fred, “Chicken” Stanley, the “light-hitting” shortstop for the Yankees in the 1970s. Well, in 1976, Fred hit .238. Fred was considered an offensive liability. Now, LeMahieu and Verdugo are mainstays in the Yankees’ lineup and play constantly. The thought of pinch hitting for them is practically anathema to Aaron Boone.

·       I saw that Jose Ferrer pitched the other night for the Nationals. I wondered what happened to him after he won the Academy Award for Cyrano de Bergerac in 1950. Now I know.

·       Jasson Dominguez needs to be brought up as soon as possible. He should play every day in the outfield with Alex Verdugo becoming a bench player. This will give Dominguez time to reacclimate himself to the Major Leagues before the playoffs. It is clear the Yankees will not bring Verdugo back next year. There is nothing to be gained by playing him every day at this point.

·       When I was a kid, my father would come home after church every Sunday with treats that he bought at a local bakery. He usually brought jelly doughnuts, which are nothing like the stiff, mass-produced things you get these days. He also brought home hard rolls. Not rolls claiming to be hard rolls that are actually just lumps of mushy dough, which is what you find everywhere today. But actual hard rolls that were crisp on the outside and soft in the center. I have been on the quest to find rolls like that since I grew up. I have finally found a bakery that produces New York style hard rolls. Not only that, but these rolls are also very large and only cost $5 a dozen. Now, if you leave them in the pantry or on the counter, they will get soft relatively quickly as well. However, the secret is to freeze them and then reheat them in the microwave. I can now enjoy something that was a fond memory from my childhood. I particularly enjoyed them because breakfasts with my father on Sundays were always enjoyable. I also remember him frying tomatoes from his garden in butter and then sprinkling them with salt and pepper and finally burying them in parmesan cheese. He would serve those with eggs. Now when I get fresh tomatoes, I like to do that as well.

·       I have written this many times. Aaron Boone is abysmal at developing young players. We have seen it time and time again. He has little patience for them and jerks them in and out of the lineup willy-nilly. The only exception to this has been Anthony Volpe. I'm not sure why that is. Young players need to be nurtured and developed. Slumps are inevitable and the manager needs to help them work through that. Boone does not. At this point, the best thing for Ben Rice would be to go back to the minor leagues and play every day for someone other than Aaron Boone for the rest of the season. I don't think Anthony Rizzo has anything left but, Boone has essentially wrecked Rice for the rest of this season. Now, he is doing the same thing to Austin Wells, by not allowing him to play against most left-handers. Jose Trevino hasn't been hitting since he came back from the IL and, Wells is a superior hitter. Wells is the future and the present. He should be playing almost every day. He did that while Trevino was on the IL and flourished. Now, Boone is returning to his security blanket by putting Trevino in about half the time.

·       if anyone wants to try a magnificent macaroni and cheese recipe, try Ina Garten’s “overnight macaroni and cheese”. It is the easiest and best macaroni and cheese I have ever made. It is now my official go-to recipe for macaroni and cheese. The beauty of it is that you can add things to it as you wish. For example, the other day I made it with kielbasa. Next weekend, when we are having company, I will add crab meat.

·       I know Jazz Chisholm, Jr. has struggled recently with his defense at third base but, I would not give up on him. He's a tremendous athlete and I'm sure he will become more than adequate at the position in time. I think he was an excellent acquisition and over a full season next year, he could really put up some big numbers. Besides, with Chisholm at third base, the Yankees can bring up and develop either Oswald Peraza or Caleb Durbin to play second base.

·       In 2016, Aaron Judge came up in the second half of the season. He finished the year on the IL, but he batted .179 with four home runs. I remember hearing and reading a lot of discussion about the fact that he was no more than a part-time player at best. That is the thing with young players. Not all of them will make it. But it is a lot easier for them to do so when they are developed carefully. I'm not saying that any of the Yankees’ current young players are Aaron Judge. They are probably not. However, I contend that if Aaron Boone was the manager of the Yankees in 2017, Aaron Judge would not have developed the way he did and probably would not have won Rookie of the Year. He would have been benched for vast expanses of time and pulled from the lineup haphazardly. Would he eventually have become the player we know and love today? Most likely, but it would have been a much more difficult process.

·       Next week, we will be officially entering pumpkin spice season. Can eggnog be far behind? 

·       I believe the Yankees will re-sign Juan Soto for next year and beyond. However, if they do that, they are going to need to have several, younger, less expensive players on the team. I can imagine a lineup with Austin Wells as catcher, Ben Rice at first base, Caleb Durbin or Oswald Peraza at second base, Anthony Volpe at shortstop, Jazz Chisholm, Jr. at third base, and Jasson Dominguez, Aaron Judge, and Juan Soto in the outfield. At this point, I'm not sure who the designated hitter would be. For that to happen, two things must occur. The Yankees have to rid themselves of the dead wood on the roster. Anthony Rizzo, DJ LeMahieu, Giancarlo Stanton, Alex  Verdugo, and Trent Grisham all need to go elsewhere. The other thing that needs to occur is that the Yankees need to acquire a new manager. I do not believe this team will win the World Series this year and therefore, Boone will not be back. I do not think he would be the right one to develop young players anyway. If the Yankees do not win the World Series this year, I can think of no circumstances under which it would be a good idea to retain Boone for the future.