The Yankees brought Clarke Schmidt back off the 60-day injured list on Tuesday, but the roster move came with a sharp turn for one of the organization’s most familiar faces.
Oswaldo Cabrera was designated for assignment before the game, a decision that had been building for a while even if it still landed with some emotion. For years, Cabrera had been the kind of player the Yankees could plug in anywhere and feel good about the energy he brought. That version of him - the promising young bat with defensive flexibility - gave way to something more temporary in recent seasons, and the team’s treatment of him reflected that shift.
His value inside the clubhouse never disappeared. Whenever Cabrera was up with the big league club, he seemed to matter to the room.
His ankle injury against the Mariners last season hit hard, and the tone around the team changed with him out. But the baseball side of the equation kept moving away from him.
After returning for the Yankees’ World Series push in 2024 and then coming back in spring training this year without a clear role, Cabrera was left in limbo.
This season, that limbo turned into a brief cameo. He was promoted for an emergency stretch of three games and went 0 for 9, including a rough extra-inning appearance against Detroit during the June/July swoon. Outside of that, he was effectively parked away from the main group, stuck in Scranton while the Yankees tried to stay afloat in the playoff race.
Before Tuesday, Cabrera had already been mentioned as a possible roster casualty when the Yankees needed room for another move, but the club went another direction last week and elevated Anthony Volpe instead. Volpe’s strong start made that choice easier to defend, and it also pushed Cabrera closer to the edge.
The Yankees’ official roster update made the sequence plain: Clarke Schmidt was returned from his rehab assignment and reinstated from the 60-day injured list, and Cabrera was designated for assignment.
Schmidt has looked like he could be a postseason piece as his rehab assignment stretched on. Cabrera, meanwhile, has put together a .288 average with a .790 OPS in the high minors this year and figures to draw interest from a team that values versatility.
He’s going to be wanted somewhere. It just won’t be in New York.
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