The Yankees made a move Wednesday that cleared a 40-man roster spot for Clarke Schmidt, designating Oswaldo Cabrera for assignment. On paper, that was the transaction. In practice, it landed like another reminder of how unevenly this organization seems to value its own players.
Cabrera had done everything the Yankees asked of him. He moved all over the field, taking reps at third base, second base, shortstop and in the outfield.
He was the kind of utility player teams usually love: willing, versatile and never making a fuss about where he was needed next. After coming back from a horrific ankle injury, he went to Triple-A and hit .288 with a .790 OPS this season.
That didn’t save him.
Instead, the Yankees chose to move on from a player who fit the role of a useful, selfless piece on a good roster. The club decided preserving pitching depth and keeping other roster options open mattered more than keeping Cabrera on the 40-man.
At the same time, Anthony Volpe keeps drawing attention for different reasons. CC Sabathia recently praised Volpe’s “perseverance and determination,” and there is no denying Volpe kept working after the Yankees sent him to Triple-A. He made adjustments, learned second base even though he didn’t want to, and hit the ball there.
But the numbers before that demotion were hard to ignore. Volpe entered this latest opportunity with an 85 wRC+ across parts of four major-league seasons. This year, before going down, he was hitting .240/.325/.322 with one home run in 56 games.
And his return had more to do with need than redemption. Jazz Chisholm Jr. hurt his thumb and went on the injured list, which created a hole at second base.
José Caballero had already filled in there, but his real value is the ability to move around the diamond. That opened the door for Volpe to come back.
So this was a roster necessity, not some clean victory lap built on a breakthrough in Triple-A.
That distinction matters, because it highlights the larger frustration around Cabrera. He kept showing up, kept accepting every assignment and kept proving he could help. He came back from a devastating injury, produced in Scranton and still got squeezed out.
Oswaldo Cabrera wasn’t Aaron Judge. No one ever said he was.
He was the kind of player championship teams usually need and usually keep around. Instead, the Yankees treated him like the expendable one.
Maybe another team will claim him and value what he brings. If that happens, it won’t be hard to see why.
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