About the Off-Season: Meanderings of My Mind

About the Off-Season: Meanderings of My Mind

By Tim Kabel

December 2, 2024

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The year 2024 is drawing to a close. It seems like it is going even more quickly because Thanksgiving was late in November this year. I believe November 28th is the latest day on which Thanksgiving can occur. As a result, the Winter Meetings will be held next week, and we are only about three weeks away from Christmas. Things should begin happening very quickly in Major League Baseball, but it is still the off-season and there are no games. Since it is Monday, I will now move from topic to topic like everyone at my Thanksgiving dinner moving from dish to dish, except my wife and I, who are on that delightful “weight loss journey” together.

·      I expect Juan Soto to sign his contract within the next week to ten days. I would not be surprised if it happens before the Winter Meetings. Despite all the articles which point in several different directions at once, I remain confident that the Yankees will sign him. Once he makes his decision, other pieces will begin to fall in place. Trades will be made, and other free agents will sign. I do believe that the Yankees will make other moves besides the presumed re-signing of Juan Soto. They truly need to do so, and they need to demonstrate to Soto and the other key players on the team such as Aaron Judge and Gerrit Cole that they are serious about building a perennial World Series contender. 

·      I have noticed over the years that there are a lot more young men named Hunter than there used to be. It's interesting that no one names their child “Gatherer”.

·      The Yankees have been linked with about every possible player in the Major Leagues for their first base spot in 2025 and beyond. There has been a lot of talk about signing Christian Walker or trading for Nolan Arenado, who apparently has agreed to switch from third base to first base. I'm not in love with either of those moves simply because those players are older and have started to decline. The Yankees have done this before. They are now stuck with DJ LeMahieu, and the trade for Josh Donaldson a few years ago did not work out well. They are also saddled with Giancarlo Stanton and his contract for the next three years. While it is true that Stanton flourished in the postseason this year, he has not been spectacular during the regular season during his recent Yankees’ career, and he is injury prone and getting older. Yet, he is under contract with the Yankees for three more seasons, with a lovely option for 2028. I would prefer to see the Yankees go after someone younger to play first base They are currently developing a lot of young players and having someone at first base who is not yet in his 30’s, or possibly just 30 would be desirable if it could be done.

·      Even before my little cat, Nut, passed away a few weeks ago, I had planned to get my wife a Siamese kitten for her birthday or Christmas, which are only a few weeks apart from each other. I located a breeder, and everything seemed to be on track but then I was told that the kittens would not arrive until Spring. Well, about a week ago, the breeder contacted me and said that due to a family emergency, she was no longer going to be breeding cats. However, she needed to find homes for her adult cats. So, about ten days ago, my wife and I adopted a beautiful seal point Siamese cat named Luna. She is four years old and will need to be spayed, as she was to be the mother of the kitten that I was going to purchase. I can tell already that she is going to be a delightful addition to our home. After being shy for a few days, she is really asserting her personality. When I'm watching television on the bed, she will come up and nudge me to pet her. She will then glower down at the other cats, with an air of superiority. She is also quite vocal, which is a bit of a counter punch against the onslaught of noise from my upstairs neighbors with all the barking, shrieking, and stomping. A little yowling from my apartment seems only fair.

·      In addition to their efforts to re-sign Juan Soto and acquire a first baseman, the Yankees really do need to address their pitching staff. A frontline starting pitcher and a few solid relievers should be the focus. Corbin Burnes would be the first choice but, that may not be possible financially, but then again if the Yankees wanted him, they could get him. Another option would be either Jack Flaherty or Walker Buehler from the Dodgers. Now that the Dodgers signed Blake Snell, one of those two might be available for the Yankees to sign. I would prefer Buehler to Flaherty but, we will see what happens. 

·      Although my children are now adults, I still look forward to Christmas, because I truly enjoy giving them, my wife, other family members, and friends gifts.  I always try to put a lot of thought into my gifts, and I have generally achieved a lot of success by doing so. However, one drawback to having been a social worker and investigator for thirty years is that it is very difficult to surprise me. When I see a gift, I can almost always figure out what it is before I open it. I generally don't volunteer this information because I don't want to spoil things for the gift-giver, but if I am asked, I have a hard time lying. My wife is amazed that I can almost always guess what she purchased for me. She did surprise me on my birthday last year with a Teddy Roosevelt bobblehead doll.

·      There is a craze at this time of year that involves putting pumpkin spice in almost everything. While that is fine with some things, it is ridiculous in others. That mentality seems to be occurring regarding the Yankees. As I read all these proposed trades, it seems that whenever someone wants to suggest a trade for anybody, they will throw in Jasson Dominguez. Whether it is a star player or someone who is washed up and severely declining. The easy thing to do is to just plug in Jasson Dominguez for anybody. This requires little imagination or thought. It is highly likely that Jasson Dominguez will either be the starting leftfielder or centerfielder for the Yankees in 2025. He will be 22 years old. Trading him for a 36-year-old outfielder, first baseman, or starting pitcher makes no sense. Although I am confident the Yankees will not do this, reading it is still annoying.

·      It is interesting how your perspectives change as you age and mature. When you watch the film Dirty Dancing as a parent, Baby's father makes a lot more sense than he did when you watched it in your youth. After all, his daughter was 17 and wanted to date someone who was almost 40 with anger issues and unstable employment. The father has now gone from being unreasonable to perfectly logical and correct in his thinking.

·      The other night, I had one of my old professors from college over for dinner. My senior year of college was his first year teaching and we became friendly after I graduated. It was a delightful evening and I found it interesting that at 73 years of age, he is still plugging away. After having taught for 40 years, he has no plans to retire. It is wonderful when you see someone who loves what he does so much that he doesn't want to stop. I realized that I may well have done the same thing if I had not been pushed into a disability retirement. Sometimes in life, we are blown off course and wind up exactly where we are supposed to be. That is what happened to me, and I couldn't be happier about it.

·      I was surprised that the Yankees re-signed Trent Grisham, as he seems as if he could be easily replaced by someone younger and less expensive. It is possible that they will trade him during the off-season but still, I never thought they would bring him back.

·      Having my friend the professor over for dinner the other night conjured up memories of one of my favorite lines in a movie. In Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal Lecter utters the immortal line: “I do wish we could chat longer, but I'm having an old friend for dinner.”  That is one of my favorite lines from a movie, as is “a boy's best friend is his mother”, by Norman Bates in Psycho. (No, I did not serve the professor with a nice chianti, but I did offer him wine). I will ask you, the readers, what you think is the best line from any movie.