About the Off-Season: Meanderings of My Mind

About the Off-Season: Meanderings of My Mind

By Tim Kabel

January 27, 2025

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This year is humming along rather nicely. We are less than two weeks away from the Super Bowl. We are 15 days away from Spring Training opening for the New York Yankees and 18 days away from Valentine's Day. For a short month, February has a lot going on. Well, today is Monday, actually the last Monday in January, and it is the off-season. That means I will now move from topic to topic like a neighborhood squirrel going from bird feeder to bird feeder. 

·      The Yankees still have not acquired an infielder who can play either third base or second base. Nor have they signed any left-handed relief pitchers. Rest assured they will. They will make moves. The moves they make may be a result of moves other teams make. For example, it is rumored that the Dodgers, in their never-ending quest to obtain everyone, might trade for Nolan Arenado. If they do, one of their infielders, possibly Max Muncy might be available in a trade. Although, if the Yankees have both Muncy and Fried on the roster, they may max out on Maxes, which wouldn’t be Smart. Similarly, if Alex Bregman signs with the Tigers, for example, they might be willing to trade Jace Jung to the Yankees. It is also possible that the Yankees could be in on Arenado or Bregman themselves. I know a lot of fans are getting anxious, but it doesn't matter if you have your third baseman lined up in December or a week before Spring Training. The roster will be finalized, and I feel confident that it will be more complete than it has been in recent years.

·      As I referenced above, why don't we just cut right to the chase and call them squirrel feeders? That's what they are. Occasionally, the squirrels allow the birds to eat some of the food but not very often. Many people try to get very creative in finding ways to ensure that the birds get the food instead of the squirrels, which are considered by many people to be nothing more than rats in expensive fur coats. My ex-wife considered the use of our bird feeder by the squirrels to be a personal affront. She went out and purchased this diabolical device. I believe it was called the Squirrel-N- Ator 2000 or something like that. Essentially, it was a bird feeder that could somehow detect the presence of a squirrel because the additional weight on the base of the feeder would indicate that it was not a bird. This would trigger a spring-loaded guillotine type device that was supposed to instantly decapitate  the trespassing squirrel. I don't know where she found such a thing. I don't know why she found such a thing, but she did. Fortunately, the squirrels must have read up on it and avoided the thing. I don't know whatever happened to it but when my ex-wife moved out, she took it with her. Thankfully, they did not make a Husband-Ator 2000.

·      I am expecting Jasson Dominguez to have a big season. He does not strike me as someone who will be overwhelmed by the situation. If he is fully healthy, which I believe he is, I anticipate that he will hit the ground running and allay any concerns that team management or the fans may have. Hopefully, Aaron Boone takes a new approach and is more involved with the development of the young players this season. It became very clear last year that the Yankees were not highly thought of throughout the league regarding fundamentals. Since Boone never received an extension, he is essentially singing for his supper. I think if the team hits one of its usual lengthy swoons this season, Boone might not survive until the end of the year. I am thinking about Joe Girardi when his managerial career ended in Philadelphia.

·      Speaking of Philadelphia, Theodore Roosevelt said, “the only man who never makes mistakes is the man who never does anything.” About a week or so ago, the mayor of Philadelphia, Cherelle Parker, was addressing a crowd and ended with a cheer of encouragement to the Eagles, who were in the playoffs. Unfortunately for the mayor, she spelled Eagles incorrectly. Well, the clip went viral and people in Philadelphia and the rest of the nation channeled my friend Roger and pulled out their red pens. To Mayor Parker’s credit, she did not shy away from the incident. She did not deny that it happened. She didn't blame anyone else. She poked fun at herself at another rally for the team and asked people to help her correctly spell Eagles. She also said that it at least now everyone in the country would know who the mayor of Philadelphia was. I have respect for her because of the way she handled it. It's very difficult to be in the public eye on any level. I have submitted articles which have had a few typos since I've been writing for SSTN. It's no fun when people point them out to you but, all you can do is move on and try to make sure it doesn't happen again. Keeping a sense of humor about it helps as well.

·      Speaking of spelling mistakes, one day several years ago one of the young men I supervised sent out an office-wide e-mail after a potluck luncheon. It seems that he had made potato salad and brought it in. The vessel in which he brought the salad was missing. He wrote a lengthy plea asking for its return. Unfortunately, he misspelled the word bowl, replacing it with bowel. It wasn't simply a request. It was a long, detailed description of the bowl and the fact that it was actually his mother's bowl. It was one of the few times in my career that I laughed so hard that tears came out of my eyes. I used it as a teaching moment to explain the virtues of proofreading and the pitfalls of sending out office-wide emails.

·      It is far too early to make predictions for the upcoming season in regard to individual players. We need to see how things shake out in Spring Training. However, I anticipate that Paul Goldsmith will bounce back in a very big way and have a good year for the Yankees. That does not mean that I think the Yankees should sign him beyond 2025. There would have to be very special circumstances in play for that to happen but, for one year, I think he will be a very solid player for the Yankees.

·      I have an update on the Roadrunner, the little tyke who lives above me. Not only are his screaming, jumping, and continual running all while wearing army boots, reaching full force but, his younger brother, I guess we will call him the Coyote, has joined in on the fun. They frequently scream and yell simultaneously. There have not been two such harmonious brothers since The Everly Brothers. It also seems that they may be trying out for the U S gymnastics team. It's as if Mary Lou Retton in her prime is living above me. 

·      I suspect that the Yankees may retire CC Sabathia’s number this season. I agree with our esteemed editor, Dr. Semendinger, that both Tony Lazzeri and Roy White should have plaques in Monument Park. They were both tremendous Yankees in their eras. As an aside, when I was in my senior year as a shot putter and discus thrower on my high school track team, my coach, Mr. Gribko, smiled at me when I suggested that my uniform should be retired. He replied, “It was, for the entire time you wore it.”

·      In my professional career and my personal life, I have always considered to be fairly unflappable. Many of the social workers whom I supervised used to comment that they took solace and comfort in the fact that during whatever emergency they were experiencing on their cases, I remained calm and found solutions for them. To prove the point that opposites attract, my wife flaps like a 50-foot flag during a hurricane. She gets flustered easily and thankfully, turns to me for assistance. I will either hear her call “Hey, Hon” across the apartment or she will call me on the phone. I have now taken to answering the phone by saying “Crisis Control Command Center, how may I help you?” The fact that she laughs when I say it proves that we are a perfect match. I have also begun playing the Mission Impossible theme song as she struggles with things like getting the gas burner to light on the stove or turning the TV on in our bedroom. The new kitten, Clancy, is my assistant antagonist, as he finds great delight in tormenting my wife. She has started placing him on time out and putting him in my office with me and closing the door. As I am writing this, he is snoozing in the chair next to me, thinking up more mischief for later, I'm sure.